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GOVERNORS OF MARYLAND 



This book is No. L>J^ of the Author's 
Autograph FAiition of Governors of 
Maryland, published October, JQ08, 
at Baltimore, Maryland. 



Author 



The Author's Autograph Edition of "Governors of Maryland," 
hmited to 200 numbered copies, was distributed as follows: 



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Library). 
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iv DISTRIBUTION OF AUTOGRAPH EDITION 



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GOVERNORS OF MARYLAND 

FROM THE REVOLUTION 
TO THE YEAR 

19.08 



BY 



HEINRICH EWALD BUCHHOLZ 



APH EDITION 




BA^l'i^RE 
WILLIAMS & WlIL^NS COMPANY 



t)Xo 







C^'nghl. irjo6 
RE. BUCHHOLZ 

pynght, 1907 
E. BUCHHOLZ 



Copyright. 1908 
By H. E. BUCHHOLZ 



F, 



ISC 



R 



)^ ^ 



WAVFRI.V PRESS 
I).\LTIMORE 



PREFACE 

Few writers of historical books can afford to omit the 
preface. This time-honored personal introduction of a work 
by the author has a distinct mission to perform, and its 
non-performance imperils the intelligence of the reception 
that will be given the volume. There is a certain conven- 
tional programme gone through by the maker of serious 
books. His text in manuscript is sent to the printer, who 
puts it into type, and proofs of the matter so set are sent 
back to the writer. After the author has read these proofs 
he undertakes to pen last of all the opening pages of his 
book — in short, he writes a preface in which he endeavors 
to tell, not what is in the book, but what he meant to 
put there. Because of this preface, the critic — who is the 
only man called upon to fathom the meaning of the book — 
is saved the necessity of reading the text proper. Thus 
it will readily be seen that the wise historical writer by 
lightening the burden of his critic very discreetly prejudices 
that judge in his favor. 

And even the author of "Governors of Maryland" had a 
purpose in mind when he started upon the work which here 
appears. He undertook to write a series of intimate and 
critical sketches of Maryland's state governors. He aimed 
to paint as a background for each biography some phase of 
the political, economic or social life of the commonwealth 
contemporaneous with the particular character studied, and 
pertinent to a full understanding of this character's public 
career. He knew, of course, that in a local field of the sort 
he had chosen he would be subjected to the special plead- 



vni PREPACB 

int;s. liu : ;.i . ■: a trlions. an<l the unreasonable protests of 
many lit ^^ tniants of Marylanders falling under the scope 
of his book, and he resolved to hear and weigh their claims, 
but to hold nothing sacre<l in his final conclusions but the 
truth. Out of these rather pretentious aims prow this simple 
volume. 

One distinction, at least, must be given this work among 
the histt>rical volumes dealing with Maryland subjects; 
its author purposely refrains from naming in his preface 
those who aided him in his work; he also willfully neglects 
to supply a list of his authorities. Ungrateful, indeed, 
would be the author were he here to print the names of 
those kindly persons who have made easy his search for 
data, since by so doing he would invite other if\Titers to 
impose upon their kindness. As to sources — too often the 
historical writer is tempteil to copy a page or two or three 
of scjme bibliography and offer it as his authorities. But the 
writer of this work will not hold any other author or any 
book responsible for his statements or misstatements, for he 
has drawn his data not only from books, but newspapers, 
legislative journals, letters, private diaries, his oi^ti imagina- 
tion and, in a few isolated cases, the gossip of old women. 



CONTENTS 

List of Illustrations xiii 

I Thomas Johnson i 

II Thomas Sim Lee 9 

III William Paca 14 

IV William Smallwood 20 

V John Eager Howard 26 

VI George Plater 32 

VII John Hoskins Stone 36 

VIII John Henry 41 

IX Benjamin Ogle 46 

X John Francis Mercer 51 

XI Robert Bowie 57 

XII Robert Wright 64 

XIII Edward Lloyd 70 

XIV Levin Winder 75 

XV Charles Carnan Ridgely. 81 

XVI Charles Goldsborough 86 

XVII Samuel Sprigg 91 

XVIII Samuel Stevens, Jr 95 

XIX Joseph Kent 99 

XX Daniel Martin 104 

XXI Thomas King Carroll 109 

XXII George Howard 114 

XXIII James Thomas 119 

XXIV Thomas Ward Veazey 124 

XXV William Grason 130 

XXVI Francis Thomas 136 

XXVII Thomas George Pratt 144 

XXVIII Philip Francis Thomas 150 

XXIX Enoch Louis Lowe 158 

XXX Thomas Watkins Ligon 165 

XXXI Thomas Holliday Hicks 171 

XXXII Augustus Williamson Bradford 178 

XXXIII Thomas Swann 184 



X COST F ST*; 

XXXIV Oden Bowie . . 19a 

XXXV Wjlliam Pinkney Whyte. .198 

XXXVI James Black Groome. .. 207 

XXXVII John Lee Carroll . 313 

XXXVIII William Thomas Hamilton jji 

XXXIX Rolwrl Milligan McLanr .jS 

X L Henr>' Lloyd .• 35 

XLI Klihu Emory Jackson . 343 

X LI I Prank Brown . . 348 

XLI II Lloyd Lowndes .. 355 

XLIV John Walter Smith .361 

X LV Edwin Warfield 368 

XLVI Austin Lane Crothers 376 

Appendix A Gubernatorial Elections in Maryland 381 

Appendix B Administrations in Maryland ,1777-1908 384 

Appendix C Biographical Chart of Governors 386 

Index. . . 389 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

Thomas Johnson frontispiece 

Facing page 

Needwood, Thomas Sim Lee's Home 9 

WilUam Paca 14 

William Smallwood 20 

John Eager Howard 26 

George Plater 32 

John Hoskins Stone 36 

John Henry Monument, Cambridge, Md 41 

Benjamin Ogle 46 

John Francis Mercer 51 

Robert Bowie 57 

Robert Wright 64 

Edward Lloyd 70 

Levin Winder 75 

Charles Carnan Ridgely 81 

Charles Goldsborough 86 

Samuel Sprigg 91 

Samuel Stevens, Jr 95 

Joseph Kent 99 

Wilderness, Daniel Martin's Home 104 

Thomas King Carroll 109 

George Howard 114 

James Thomas 119 

Thomas Ward Veazey 124 

William Grason 130 

Francis Thomas 136 

Thomas George Pratt 144 

Philip Francis Thomas 150 

Enoch Louis Lowe 158 

Thomas Watkins Ligon 165 

Thomas Holliday Hicks 171 

Augustus Williamson Bradford 178 

Thomas Swann 184 



XU ILLUSTRATIONS 

Odcn Bowie . . 19a 

Willuun Pmkney Whyt. . 198 

James black Groomc. 107 

John Ix'e Carroll aij 

William Thomas Hamilton . 331 

Robert Milligon McLanc . 338 

Henry Lloyd . 335 

Elihu Emory Jackson 343 

Frank Brown 948 

Lloyd Lowndes . 355 

John Walter Smith . 361 

Edwin WarfieKI .368 

Austin Lane Crothers . .376 



GOVERNORS OF MARYLAND 



THOMAS JOHNSON 

It is fashionable, perhaps because pleasant, to regard 
the American Revolution as a general uprising of abused 
colonists, who sought to free themselves from a foreign 
yoke which had become so burdensome that it could no 
longer be borne. But this view does not take into account 
hesitating conservatives, lukewarm temporizers and God- 
fearing loyal British subjects. When the struggle that bore 
the American nation came, there was more than a little dis- 
sension among the colonists of Maryland, as well as of the 
twelve other provinces, regarding the questions at issue. 
Many good people were either moderately opposed to 
revolt, or else determinedly and conscientiously in favor of 
a continuance of British domination. The colonists who 
joined the Continental army were not all heroes, nor were 
those who opposed the Revolution necessarily cowards. 
That tory who, holding England in the right, was willing, 
though surrounded by a host of revolutionists, to adhere to 
his faith was decidedly more of a man than the average 
American history has been inclined to paint him. Though 
these facts combat popularized tradition, they do not take 
one whit from the glory that envelopes the Revolutionary 
period of American history; indeed, they accentuate its 
brightness, for they show that in the legislative hall as on 
the field of battle, men opposed men; that gentlemen 
who fought against England had cause for some com- 
punction in opposing gentlemen who supported England's 
claim ; that all the valor and all the courage were not on one 
side, but that both parties, and in fact, even those who for 



a GOVERNORS OP MARYLAND 

conscience sake remained neutral, had their Nnrtues as well 
as their vices, their heroes as well as their traitors. 

The conventional fife-and-drum history of the American 
struggle for independence is responsible for a total eclipsing 
of the true storj' of that conflict, for fife and drum were but 
the accompaniments of combats of intellect in legislative 
halls, and of herculean warfare waged by civilians to 
arouse the widespread dormant patriotism to conscious- 
ness. To the soldier who fired a musket has been given 
due credit, but the plain-clad civilian who roused him to 
action, who put a musket in his hand, and who reared a 
structure of government over his head while he slept at 
night, has been given no other reward than oblivion. The 
destructive forces which engaged in casting down the author- 
ity of Great Britain are made to stand out in bold relief upon 
the pages of history, but the constructive forces, which were 
the backbone of the country's hope, are hidden from view 
by false shadows. When investigation dissipates these 
shadows, then is revealed the true greatness of Maryland's 
first state governor. While the struggle to sustain the 
Declaration was going on, the colonies set about to establish 
their individual governments. In Maryland aflairs were 
first intrusted to a committee, but there was soon established 
another form of government that consisted of a legislative 
and an executive body, and when the time came for the 
election of the first governor the legislative body chose 
Thomas Johnson, whose fame at that time outshone that of 
many of his fellow-citizens whose names have since com- 
pletely overshadowed his own. The waning of Mr. Johnson's 
fame was due to his greatest virtue — his modesty. The 
army coveted the courage which his presence brought; the 
legislature claimed the vsisdom of his intellect; the bench 
sought the soundness of his judgment, and to each he gave 
what was asked, but never thought to husband his reputa- 



THOMAS JOHNSON 3 

tion so that posterity might give him a place of glory in 
the story of the nation which he so largely helped to make. 
The grandfather of the governor, also named Thomas 
Johnson, came to America from Porte Head, Yarmouth, 
England, in the latter quarter of the seventeenth century in 
somewhat romantic fashion. He had become enamored of 
a Miss Mary Baker, who was denied the privilege of marry- 
ing, because she was a chancery ward. Mr. Johnson, how- 
ever, holding love as dear a thing as reverence for unjust 
statutes, eloped to the New World with the young woman. 
The refugees settled at St. Leonards, where was born to 
them a son, who also was named Thomas Johnson. This 
son was married to Miss Dorcas Sedgewick, of whose twelve 
children the fifth was Thomas Johnson, Maryland's first 
state governor, who was born at St. Leonards on Novem- 
ber 4 , 1732. From youth Johnson came in contact with men 
of learning. He became a resident of Annapolis and was 
reared in the office of the provincial court. He studied law 
in the office of Counselor Bordley, and was admitted to 
practice at the Maryland bar. His career from then on was 
cast among the mighty minds of the state. He took from 
the radicals their righteous fire without their unbridled 
passion; from the tories their wisdom without their arro- 
gance, and thus he grafted into his own character the best 
qualities of both parties. It is possible that the ' ' fire-eaters' ' 
of the legislature did not look with entire approval upon 
the man who could discuss quietly things that they argued 
only with raised voices and clenched fists. John Adams, 
who was to become president, advanced the opinion that 
"Johnson, of Maryland, has a clear and cool head. * * * 
He is a deliberating man, but not a shining orator; his pas- 
sion and imagination do not appear enough for an orator ; his 
reason and penetration appear, but not his rhetoric." But 
the able Marylander lacked that fire that Adams thought 



4 GOVERNORS OP MARYLAND 

essential only because he scornfully discarded it. When the 
American Revolution began, Thomas Johnson was already 
a man of wide repute throughout the other colonies. At 
thirty years of age he had been elected to represent Anne 
Arunilel county in the assembly, and there opposed the stamp 
act. When the colonists became displeased at the arbitrary 
views of Governor Eden regarding separate fees for every 
act of state officials, Johnson was chosen to present an 
address warning his excellency of the dangers of his course. 

In 1768 Mr. Johnson was appointed one of a committee 
to draft a petition remonstrating with the king of England 
because of unjust taxations. He was a member of the 
Annapolis convention of 1774. and was named — with 
Matthew Tilghman, Robert Goldsborough, William Paca 
and Samuel Chase — as a deputy from the province to attend 
a general congress of deputies to effect a common plan of 
conduct for the relief of Boston and the preservation of 
American liberties. By repeated election he ser\'ed as a 
delegate to the Continental congress. 1774-77. On Octo- 
ber 2, 1774. when a resolution was passed by congress that 
an address to the crown should be prepared, Mr. Johnson 
was selected, with Richard Henr>' Lee. John Adams and 
Patrick Henry, to write it ; and in December of that year he 
was appointed a member of the provincial committee of 
correspondents, and also as a member of the council of 
safety. Through his influence the deputies from Mary- 
land in congress were permitted, June 28, 1776, to declare 
independence of Great Britain; and it was he who. on 
June 15. 1775, nominated George Washinptdti for com- 
mander-in-chief of all the Continental forces 

When the American colonies were preparing fur the on- 
slaught that was sure to follow a declaration of independ- 
ence, Mr. Johnson was among the most active organizers 
for resistance in Maryland. On May 21, 1776, he was 



THOMAS JOHNSON 5 

reelected to congress, but he tarried at home, creating 
armed forces out of tillers of the soil and clerks from the 
counting room. He was elected senior brigadier-general 
of provincial forces early in 1776 and organized and per- 
sonally led the "Flying Camp" — a regiment of 1800 sol- 
diers — which went to Washington's relief during his retreat 
through New Jersey. Mr. Johnson was a man of wealth, 
and his fortune permitted, while his devotion prompted, 
him to contribute largely for the military defense not 
only of his province, but of the country at large. With 
the glory of a military career awaiting him, the very people 
who loved him most were instrumental in diverting his 
career back to the old life in the council halls, thus robbing 
him of a place among the lauded. On July 4, 1776, when 
Johnson was elected by the convention as a deputy from 
the province to the Continental congress, the members of 
that body went on record in a resolution as believing that 
his services were of more importance in congress than in 
the field, and that his place could be supplied with less 
inconvenience in the military than in the civil department. 
The first state constitution of Maryland called for an 
immediate election of a governor by the two branches 
of the legislature. Accordingly, on February 13, 1777, the 
two houses were canvassed and Thomas Johnson received 
forty votes, while the remaining ballots were scattered 
among his opponents, Samuel Chase receiving nine, and 
Matthew Tilghman, George Plater and William Paca one 
each. The newly elected governor was inaugurated with 
great pomp on Friday, March 21, 1777. The official cere- 
monies of inducting him into office were observed in the 
state house at Annapolis. The soldiery drawn up for 
review on the lawn, fired three volleys, and a salute of thir- 
teen rounds was fired by the batteries. A night of ga ye ties 
followed the inauguration, the state ball reviving memories 



6 GOVERNORS OP MARYLAND 

of the brilliani t'nti'riainni(.'ms tnai iiad won for Annapolis 
international renown in the days preceding the Revolution. 
In the summer of that year the British forces under Admiral 
Howe made their appearance in the Chesapeake, and Gov- 
ernor Johnson issued a proclamation, in which he called 
upon the people to lend their aid. *'To defend our liberties 
requires our exertions; our wives, our children and our 
country implore our assistance — motives amply sufticicnt 
to arm everyone who can be called a man." 

There was here no mincing of words, and at the same lime 
there was disclosed the high place which home held in Mr. 
Johnson's regard. On February 16, 1766, he had married 
Miss Ann Jennings, daughter of Judge Thomas Jennings, of 
Annapolis. The home that he gained by his marriage 
always held first place in his affection. When in later 
years there came a question as to which should be sacrificed, 
the demands of home or the claims of fortune. Johnson did 
not hesitate in deciding. Mr. Johnson voted for the Dec- 
laration of Independence, on July 4. 1776, but on the second 
of August — when the document was to be signed — there 
was illness in his family and he remained at home. Having 
helped to make the Declaration a fact, he permitteil himself 
to be deprived of the honor that came to those who placed 
to it their signatures, in order that he might respond to a 
call from home for the comfort of his presence. As a con- 
sequence the name of Thomas Johnson is not among those 
of the signers. 

The term of governor in the early days of .Maryland's life 
as an independent state was for one year only and a governor 
was not eligible for reelection to more than three consecu- 
tive terms. Mr. Johnson was twice reelected without 
opposition. In 1779 he was succeeded by Thomas Sim Lee, 
and the following year Johnson was again elected deputy 
to the proNincial congress, October. 1780. A few months 



THOMAS JOHNSON 7 

later he was chosen a member of the house of delegates. It 
was through his instrumentality that the deputies from 
Maryland were instructed to vote in favor of the articles of 
confederation, Maryland having at first refused to join in 
the confederation unless Virginia should agree to release 
all lands west of the Ohio River. Johnson also labored 
faithfully for the adoption by Maryland of the constitu- 
tion of the United States, and as soon as the ratification 
of the constitution was assured he rallied to the sup- 
port of General Washington for president. Mr. Johnson 
was a member of the Continental congress from 1781 
to 1787. In 1789 President Washington tendered him 
the ofBce of United States district judge, which he declined. 
On April 20, 1790, he was appointed chief judge of the 
general court of Maryland, surrendering the office Novem- 
ber 7, 1 79 1, that he might assume the duties of associate 
judge of the supreme court of the United States, to which 
position he had been appointed. On the resignation of 
Chief Judge Rutledge some years later, Washington endeav- 
ored to persuade Mr. Johnson to accept this post, but with- 
out success. 

When Edmund Randolph resigned the portfolio of state 
in 1795 President Washington invited Mr. Johnson to 
become a member of his official family. "The office of 
secretary of state is vacant," he wrote, "occasioned by the 
resignation of Mr. Randolph. Will you accept it? You 
know my wishes of old to bring you into the administra- 
tion. Where, then, is the necessity of repeating them? 
* * * No time more than the present ever required the aid 
of your abilities. * * *" Mr. Johnson's letter of declina- 
tion reveals the extreme modesty which worked such havoc 
with his fame. "I feel real concern that my circumstances 
will not permit me to fill the important office you pro- 
pose to me," he wrote. " I am far from being out of humor 



8 GOVERNORS OP MARYLAND 

■with the world on my own account; it has done me more 
than justice in estimating my abihties, and more justice 
than common in conjecturing my motives. I feel nothing 
of fear, either, in hazarding again the little reputation I 
may have acquired, for I am not conscious of having sought 
or despised applause; but, %\ithout affectation, I do not 
think I could do credit to the office of secretary. I cannot 
persuade m>*sclf that I possess the necessary qualifications 
for it, and I am sure I am too old to expect improvement. 
My strength declines, and so too, probably, will my mental 
powers soon. My views in this world have been some time 
bounded to my children. They yet, for a little while, may 
have me to lean on. Being constantly with them adds to 
their happiness and makes my chief comfort." 

That Mr. Johnson was altogether sincere in his profession 
of no concern about his fame, is certified beyond question 
by the confession of his granddaughter some years later 
that "We have a few of General Washington's letters to 
grandpa, but he purposely destroyed all confidential letters 
before his death." American history contains no parallel 
of such indifference to that common desire of mankind for 
fame. In his later years Governor Johnson lived in retire- 
ment at Rose Hill, in Frederick. And here on October 26, 
1 819, in the eighty-seventh year of his age. Governor John- 
son died. A more fitting comment on his life at large can- 
not be found than that recorded by Esmeralda Boyle: "No 
man did more for the advancement of liberty's cause, yet 
among the recorded names of American heroes how seldom 
do we find his name! Few men of Maryland's struggling 
days did so much toward furnishing material for the history 
of Maryland, yet how has history forgotten him!" 




FREDERICK COITNTY HOVh OFTHOMASSIM LKF 



II 
THOMAS SIM LEE 

It was many years after the adoption by Maryland of a 
state constitution before anything approaching republi- 
canism was infused into the government. During the first 
years of liberty the people, as if by common consent, sub- 
mitted to a reign of aristocracy. Although in time advo- 
cates of a truly democratic government arose and ulti- 
mately defeated the aristocrats, still a political history of 
Maryland's earliest days, just as a history of her earliest 
state governors, must be concerned largely with those who 
supported policies looking to the governing of the many 
by a few. Although Thomas Johnson, the first governor, 
may be regarded as a democratic statesman, when the time 
came for selecting his successor the political leaders of the 
state did not seem to desire to place the reins of government 
in the hands of one entertaining republican principles. There 
was at this time an uncertainty in the public mind as to the 
form of government which would be best adapted for the peo- 
ple of Maryland, and that wavering is reflected in the choice 
of a successor to Johnson. Two candidates for governor were 
before the legislature in 1779 : Col. Edward Lloyd, of Talbot 
county, and Thomas Sim Lee. On November 8, the two 
houses cast their ballots, and Lee was chosen. As governor, 
Mr. Lee attained great popularity, due largely to the fact 
that his views coincided to a remarkable degree with those 
of the people of his day, especially the leaders. By his life, 
therefore, are revealed the general sentiments of his contem- 
poraries upon matters of government, and those senti- 
ments are far from republican. Governor Lee was a patriot ; 



lO GOVERNORS OP MARYLAND 

he lal>ored cheerfully and untiringly for the success of the 
Revolutionary forces; but the characteristic that attracts 
the greatest notice is not his patriotism, but his strong 
leaning toward aristocracy. 

Thomas Sim Lee was bom in Prince George's county. 
October 29, X74S. He was a son of Thomas and Christiana 
(Sim) Lee and great-grandson of Richard Lee, the cavalier 
of Shropshire, who came to America during the reign of 
Charles I, and settled in Virginia. There was this difference 
between Governor Lee and his predecessor in office: Mr. 
Johnson had won fame before he became governor, and 
he gave to the executive office more honor than he took 
from it, while Lee entered upon the duties of governor with- 
out previously having accomplished a great deal, and it was 
his administration of that office almost entirely that won 
him a place among the state's celebrities. At the opening 
of the Revolution Mr. Lee was a moderately ardent advo- 
cate of armed opposition, but he had not attracted wide 
attention. In 1777 he began his career in public service as a 
member of the provincial council of Maryland. His tirst 
position of importance, however, was that of governor, and 
he performed the duties devolving upon that office with sig- 
nal success, as is certified by the frequency with which he 
was reelected. 

In the opening years of Maryland's existence as a state, 
the executive was granted but comparatively small author- 
ity. The position then was far less influential than the 
growth of the republican spirit made it in later years, for the 
executive was. in a way, the social head of the state rather 
than its governmental head. The social requirements of 
the executive office were so much emphasized in the 
latter part of the eighteenth century, that Governor's Lee's 
popularity must be credited to a great extent to his social 
performances. At the same time tlie social aspects of his 



THOMAS SIM LEE H 

governorship should not be permitted to hide his intrinsic 
worth as a patriot. 

Governor Lee began his first term of office at a time when 
the nation was facing a crisis. The army was in a precarious 
condition; the ranks were being reduced by desertion and 
there was little to arrest the discouraging process of decrease. 
Governor Lee's first official act practically was the issuance 
of a proclamation for the collection of provisions for the 
ragged army. The governor received a letter from General 
Washington early in the year 1780 regarding a call that had 
been made on "the several states for specific quantities of 
provisions, rum and forage for the army." And Governor 
Lee left no stone unturned in his labors to secure the required 
supplies. Later there came from Washington an appeal 
for additional troops, and the general assembly, encouraged 
by the governor, responded: "We purpose to exert our 
utmost efforts to raise 2000 regulars to serve during the 
war." These utmost efforts sent 2065 fighting men to the 
Continental army. In the early months of 1781 Governor 
Lee rendered considerable aid — and with it encourage- 
ment — to Lafayette and the forces under him then journey- 
ing southward through the state. 

Maryland was frequently called upon by the Continental 
government for much needed assistance. In reply to such 
a plea Governor Lee wrote Robert Morris, in August, 
1 781: "Every thing that is within our power and within 
the exhausted abilities of this state shall be done cheerfully 
and immediately to promote and render effectual the expe- 
dition which his Excellency General Washington has formed 
against the British in Virginia, in which we are fully sensi- 
ble the care and safety of this state in particular is deeply 
interested." And proof of the fulfillment of that promise 
is given by Washington's letter to Lee: " Give me leave to 
return to you my sincerest thanks for your exertions on the 



la GOVERNORS OP MARYLAND 

present occasion. The supplies granted by the state are so 
liberal that they remove any apprehension of want." And 
a short while later (in October) General Washington again 
wrote the chief magistrate of Mar>'land: "My present 
engagements will not allow me to add more than my congrat- 
ulations on the happy event [alluding to the surrender of 
the British army at Yorktown] and to express the high 
sense I have of the powerful aid which I have derived from 
the state of Maryland in complying vsith my every request 
to the executive of it." These signal serxnces of Governor 
Lee to the cause of liberty entitle him to a high place among 
the patriots of the nation. 

The legislature elected a successor to Governor Lee on 
November 22, 1782, and at the same time adopted a series 
of resolutions commending the retiring executive. Upon 
relinquishing the gubernatorial office Mr. Lee was elected 
delegate to the Continental congress, in which he served in 
1783 and 1784. He was chosen a delegate to the constitu- 
tional convention of 1787. but declined to serve; in 1788, 
however, he was chosen a member of the state convention 
which ratified the constitution. Mr. Lee was again elected 
governor of Maryland in i7g2, following George Plater in 
office. His second administration covered two years, from 
1792 to 1794, and witnessed as one of its most important 
issues the so-called "whiskey insurrection." In 1794 the 
residents of Western Pennsylvania and parts of Maryland 
opposed the government in its endeavors to collect revenue 
from the distillers of domestic alcoholic drinks. The insur- 
rection assumed serious proportions, and the governors of 
several states, including Maryland, were called upon to 
supply troops to war against the rcvoltcrs. By prompt 
action the enemies of the federal government were defeated 
before the spirit of revolt against the central government 
had been permitted to spread. During Governor Lee's 



THOMAS SIM LEE I3 

second term he was active in reorganizing the state militia. 
At the close of his service as governor, in 1794, Mr. Lee 
established a winter home in Georgetown, D. C. His 
house became the headquarters for members of the federal 
party, an organization which Lee heartily supported. 
He was elected to the United States senate in 1794, and in 
November, 1798, was unanimously chosen governor of 
Maryland for what would have made his third administra- 
tion as the state's executive, but he declined both honors. 

Governor Lee was married on October 27, 177 1, to Miss 
Mary Digges, whose father — Ignatius Digges — was a rich 
landowner of Prince George's county. The young couple 
soon after took up their residence in Frederick county, 
where Lee purchased an estate of more than 1500 acres and 
turned farmer on a large scale. The wife of the governor — 
known to history as Mrs. Mary Lee — was active during the 
years of the Revolution in making clothing for the troops 
and in performing other patriotic services. There were 
four sons and six daughters in the Lee family. Governor 
Lee died at his Frederick county home, Needwood, on 
November 9, 18 19, in the seventy-fifth year of his age. 
Posterity is forced to draw its own conclusions as to the 
personal appearance of Thomas Sim Lee. He is reputed to 
have been a very handsome man, but left no portrait of 
himself. Word pictures, therefore, are the only ones of 
Maryland's second governor left to the reader, and these, 
in addition to writing him down as a handsome man, relate 
that he was six and a third feet high, and that every inch 
of him was "magnificently proportioned." 



Ill 
WILLIAM PACA 

When the historian attempts to price the services of a 
war politician, his folly leads him into a lab>Tinth of uncer- 
tainties from which he will find it very difficult to extricate 
himself. The average statesman may be measured ac- 
cording to accepted standards, his labors all labeled and 
their value correctly calculated. The military leader is also 
easily disposed of. Data concerning his army and the 
opposing troops are available; the exact positions of the 
contending forces may be finely worked out, and all his 
conflicts reduced to mathematical proportions. But \N'ith 
the war politician the order of things is altogether reversed ; 
nothing is tangible, everything is vague. What has been 
accomplished, so much is certain; but how it was accom- 
plished must always remain a quantity of unknown value. 
The people — that is, the masses — may have been full charged 
for action long before the leader came, needing only an 
oratorical spark from him to ignite their concealed passion ; 
on the other hand, at his coming they may have been 
altogether opposed to the things he advocated, making it 
necessary for him to prepare them for his doctrine before 
attempting to impart it, or his lot may have been cast where 
existing conditions were any one of a hundred varieties 
between these two extremes. It is essential that cognizance 
be taken of this futility of attempting to weigh accurately 
the influence of war politicians, in order to be safeguarded 
from wrongly estimating the worth to his state of Maryland's 
third governor, and with that cognizance there may come 
a disinclination to form any estimate at all. 




WILLIAM PACA 

1783-1785 



r«a£ssiii^is^*;^jira»"; 



g^ge^^g^^g^^^lg^g . 




COPYRIGHT. 1908, BY 



JUCHHOUZ. 



WILLIAM PACA 15 

When the time arrived for electing a successor to Gov- 
ernor Lee, the general assembly nominated, in November, 
1782, St. John Jenifer and William Paca as candidates for 
state executive. Mr. Paca was elected, and the legislature 
thus put the administrative affairs of the commonwealth in 
the hands of a war politician. William Paca was born at 
Wye Hall, the country seat of the Pacas in Harford county, 
on October 31, 1740. The governor's father, John Paca, 
who had early settled in Maryland, held office under the pro- 
prietary governors. His independent fortune enabled him to 
give William, who was his second son, a more thorough educa- 
tion than was enjoyed by most youths of pre- Revolutionary 
days. At home the boy received careful guidance in the cus- 
tomary branches of classical instruction , and he was afterward 
sent to Philadelphia to complete his academic studies. At 
the Philadelphia College — the nucleus of the University of 
Pennsylvania — Mr. Paca took his bachelor's degree on June 
8, 1759. In the same year he began to read law under 
Stephen Bordley, of Annapolis, and in 1761 was admitted to 
practice in the mayor's court. Later he went abroad to 
finish his legal studies, entering Middle Temple, London, as 
a student, and, upon his return to America, settled in An- 
napolis and was admitted to practice in the provincial court. 

It was during the years of study at Annapolis that Paca 
made the acquaintance of Samuel Chase, and these two men, 
vastly different in many respects but both passionate in 
speech and fond of debate, formed a lasting friendship. 
At this time also Mr. Paca made his first matrimonial ven- 
ture, marrying, in 1761, Miss Mary Lloyd, the daughter of 
Benjamin Chew Lloyd, of Anne Arundel county. At the age 
of twenty-one Mr. Paca made his first public appearance as a 
politician, and almost simultaneously with that appearance 
began his career upon the side of England's most outspoken 
opponents in America. The stamp act in 1765 and every 



l6 GOVERNORS OP MARYLAND 

subst-qucnt t>n<ifavor to impose upon England's colonies 
unjust taxation brought WTathful denunciation from him. 
He was a member of the Maryland provincial assembly 
from 1 77 1 to 1774. and throughout that time was loud in his 
opposition to the domination of England over the American 
colonies. In 1774 Mr. Paca became a member of the 
committee of correspondence, and a year later served in the 
council of safety. When the port of Boston was closed 
he was appointed one of the five Maryland delegates to 
the congress " for the relief of Boston and the preservation of 
American liberty." He represented Maryland in the Con- 
tinental congress from 1774 to 1779. Although serving as 
representative for a people who repeatedly disavowed any 
hostile intentions toward England, he still labored untir- 
ingly for the war party. In 1775 he and Samuel Chase 
supplied from their own purses funds for providing a volun- 
teer corps with rifles. 

A few months before the Declaration of Independence 
was adopted, a rumor reached the Maryland assembly that 
some rash people desired congress to declare imlependence 
of England, and the members of the assembly became 
anxious for fear that the representatives from Maryland 
would join in such an unNsise course. Accordingly, a resolu- 
tion was adopted which declared that Maryland did not 
entertain views or desires for separation, and "would not be 
bound by the vote of a majority of congress to declare 
independence." This attitude continued to the very eve of 
the passing of the Declaration of Independence. But 
William Paca, burning with the fire of youth and thirsting 
for warfare, would deliver a passionate address, appealing 
to the congress to visit summary punishment upon England 
for her inconsiderate domination, and then turn to receive 
a fresh reminder from his constituents that nothing was 
farther from their desire than a severance of that peace- 



WILLIAM PACA 17 

giving, happy relationship which bound England and 
Maryland. Whether Paca's passion roused Marylanders 
finally to action, or whether the very excess of his fire was 
responsible for their apparent hesitancy, is one of those 
doubtful points that must be encountered in the life of the 
war politician. At last, on June 28, 1776, the Maryland 
convention withdrew the restrictions it had placed upon the 
delegates in congress and Mr. Paca and his associates were 
advised that they might vote as their judgment dictated. 
Passion had already dictated, and, with startling prompt- 
ness, they voted for a declaration of independence. The 
name of William Paca has been accorded a prominence in 
the minds of Marylanders somewhat out of proportion to 
the intrinsic worth of his services as compared with those 
of other leaders of his time, solely because his signature was 
attached to the Declaration of Independence. And yet 
it was not through the labors of Paca himself, so much as 
through those of the larger statesmen, such as Thomas 
Johnson and Charles Carroll, that he was at last privileged 
to sign the Declaration as Maryland's representative in 
congress. 

Mr. Paca was named August 17, 1776, one of a committee 
to ' ' prepare a declaration and charter of rights and a form 
of government for Maryland," and when that state govern- 
ment was inaugurated he was chosen as a senator in the 
first assembly. He was also active in the organization of 
the army that was to sustain the Declaration of Independ- 
ence, and was one of the committee from Maryland that 
assisted in planning a naval armament to defend the approach 
to Philadelphia. With the establishment of some form of 
government in the colonies Paca readily turned to the judi- 
ciary. His training had been strictly legal and his leaning 
was always toward law. In March, 1778, he was appointed 
chief judge of the general court of Maryland, in which 



l8 GOVERNORS OP MARYLAND 

office he continued for several years. Just before he was 
chosen state executive he served as chief judge of the court 
of appeals in prize and admiralty cases. Paca was elected 
governor in November, 1782. and the first year of his admin- 
istration witnessed the beginning of peace in America. 
Indeed, he was governor when the independence of the 
colonies became an established fact, for that independence 
was dependent upon the ability to sustain the declara- 
tion. During the three years that he was chief magis- 
trate of Maryland his administration was much concerned 
with the task of smoothing out the rough places of a hur- 
riedly contrived government and in seeking to lighten the 
burden of the home-coming warriors. 

Late in the year 1783, Governor Paca invited congress 
to Annapolis and threw his own house open to the presi- 
dent of that body. It was here that Washington, on Decem- 
ber 23, 1783, surrendered his commission in the presence of 
the governor, the general assembly and the Continental 
congress; and while congress was sitting in Annapolis, 
the treaty of peace, which had been concludetl and signed 
at Paris, was here ratified, on January 14. 1784. Among 
the noteworthy actiNTties of Mr. Paca while governor was 
his labor on behalf of the returning soldiers, who had been 
promised fifty acres of land under Governor Lee's adminis- 
tration. On May 6, 1783, he informed the members of 
the assembly that a very considerable number of the 
troops of the Maryland Line "returned are not nor ever 
will be fit for service again. They arc incapable of doing 
active duty and ought to be turned over to the invalid 
corps." And he worked faithfully to see that the men who 
had contracted sickness on the battlefield were provided 
for in their distress. After his gubernatorial administra- 
tion, Mr. Paca was chosen a member of the Mar>iand con- 
vention which ratified the constitution of the United States. 



WILLIAM PACA 1 9 

He was appointed by Washington in December, 1789, judge 
of the United States court of the District of Maryland, 
and served in this office until his death in 1799. He was 
vice-president of the Maryland branch of the Society of 
the Cincinnati from 1784 to 1799. Governor Paca was 
instrumental in establishing Washington College, at Chester- 
town, Md., and throughout his life was a strong advocate 
of higher education. After the death of his first wife, Mr. 
Paca was married, 1777, to Miss Anne Harrison, of Phila- 
delphia, by whose death, however, a few years later he again 
became a widower. A writer of earlier times is authority 
for the statement that "Mr. Paca was a man of remarkably 
graceful address, fine appearance and polished manner; he 
had mixed long in the best society and had improved his 
social powers to a very high degree of refinement. In the 
office of governor his superiority in these respects was 
very strikingly displayed, and the courtesies of the executive 
mansion have never been more elegantly sustained than 
during his tenure of office." 



IV 

WILLIAM SMALLWOOD 

During the years of Amcru as struggle for independence 
the people of Maryland placed the administrative affairs 
of the commonwealth in the hands of men who were more 
at home in the legislative hall and in the courtroom than 
upon the battlefield. The first and third governors — 
Johnson and Paca — had been preeminently jurists, although 
Mr. Johnson at one time had a leaning toward the war 
department; Governor Lee, too, was unacquainted wth 
the life of a warrior. But when the war ceased, although the 
people of the colonies heartily welcomed relief from the 
strain that had been imposed by the struggle to maintain 
independence, they felt foremost in their bosoms a passion 
for militarism. There were certainly men in the land who 
knew more about government than Washington, but there 
was none who was as completely enveloped in the glory of 
the soldier, and so it was Washington who was first chosen 
to hold the reins of the federal government. Ami as the 
leaning of the nation was toward the men who had worn 
uniforms, so in Maryland the people's eyes, when they sought 
a successor to Governor Paca, rested first upon one who, 
perhaps more than any other, had been accepted as the 
most famous military man of the state — General Smalhvood. 

William Smallwocxl was bom in Kent county in 173a. 
His father, Bayne Smallwood, planter and merchant, had 
been presiding officer in the court of common pleas in 
colonial days and also a member of the house of burgesses. 
Priscilla Hebcrd Smallwood, the governor's mother was by 
birth a Virginian. The bringing up of William Smallwood 



WILLIAM SMALLWOOD 

1785-178S 




COPYHJGHT. ISOe, BY H. E. BUCHHOLZ. 



WILLIAM SMALLWOOD 21 

was regarded as a matter of great importance by both his 
parents and at a tender age he was sent to England, receiv- 
ing his preparatory training at Kendall and completing his 
studies at Eton. In the meanwhile Smallwood cultivated 
a passion for the life of a soldier, and upon his return to 
America engaged, though without distinction, in the 
French and Indian war. From this time until the beginning 
of the Revolution, Mr. Smallwood occupied only an incon- 
spicuous place in the province, but during these years he was 
being developed for the task which was to be imposed upon 
him by the struggling colonies. He was in his forty-third 
year when the war with England began, and while the 
echo of the first shot was yet resounding through the 
land he hurried to the field of action. On April 19, 1775, 
Lexington witnessed the initial locking of horns of the Brit- 
ish soldiery and the American colonists, and five days later 
William Smallwood, glorying in the title of colonel and com- 
manding 1444 men, left Annapolis for Boston to join the 
Revolutionary forces. Colonel Smallwood's regiment took 
part in the battle of Long Island, and two days later the 
Maryland regiment, then at Fort Putnam, was designated 
by Washington to cover his retreat into the lines below 
Fort Washington. The impetuosity of Colonel Small- 
wood prevented him from distinguishing between covering 
a retreat and making a charge, and he had the red coats on 
the run when Washington was forced to send a messenger 
after him and have his troops recalled. 

Colonel Smallwood was not a humane leader. The sacri- 
ficing of men was to him a matter of little concern. In 
many of the engagements in which his command took part 
the passing of the smoke of battle revealed the sorrowful 
fact that the majority of his men had been slain. But he 
knew no such word as retreat, and with something like the 
unconcern of a god he could see the lines about him crumble 



aa GOVERNORS OP MARYLAND 

away without for an instant changing his purpose of stand- 
ing firm. For example, at the battle of White Plains, after 
Brooks'regiment had "fled in confusion without more than 
a random scattering fire" when the British appeared, and 
the artillery' fi»llowe<i. Smallwood's regulars and Reitzman's 
regiment of New Yorkers held their ground as unconcerned 
as if they constituted the entire Continental forces instead 
of a ver> small part of it. Although deserted on all sides, 
they stood like a rock in the midst of the conflict and 
"finally, cramped for room, they sullenly retired down 
the north side of the hill." The troops who then rejoined 
the Continental forces comprised but a minority of the 
two regiments, more than half of Smallwood's soldiers 
having been left dead upon the field while the daring com- 
mander himself was carried off, disabled by two wounds 
received in the last moments of the struggle. On October 
33. 1776. Smallwood was commissioned brigadier-general, 
and his regiment was in the battles of Fort Washington 
on November 16, 1776; Trenton. December 26, 1776; and 
Princeton. January 3. 1777. and of its performance Wash- 
ington recorded: "Smallwood's troops had been reduced 
to a mere handful of men, but they took part in the engage- 
ment with their usual gallantry and won great renown." 
At Germantown, October 4. 1777, the Maryland Line 
retrieved the day and captured part of the British camp. 
During the war General Smallwood developed to a remark- 
able degree the faculty of being a disagreeable man. When 
his quarrels with those who were supposed to be striving 
for the same purpose as himself are noted there arises a 
question whether he was less agreeable to encounter on the 
field of battle or in the barracks. He was strongly opposed 
to the appf)intment of foreigners as officers in the Continental 
army, and as a consequence he had several disagreements 



WILLIAM SMALLWOOD 2$ 

with distinguished warriors who had come from other lands 
to America's aid. The first encounter of this kind occurred 
in June, 1778, when Count Pulaski took up his headquar- 
ters in Baltimore and began to enlist men for "The Pulaski 
Legion." When Small wood observed that men who should 
have come to him were drifting to Count Pulaski, he pro- 
tested to the council. But the council — fearing to hurt the 
count's feelings and not daring to ruffle Smallwood's — 
plead lack of jurisdiction. In 1780 the Maryland Line 
marched to the south, and here for some time persevered under 
General Gates. Although the operations in the south 
were not altogether successful from the American stand- 
point, congress was prompted, on October 14, 1780, form- 
ally to thank Brigadiers Smallwood and Gist and the offi- 
cers and soldiers of the Maryland and Delaware lines "for 
their bravery and good conduct displayed in the action of 
the 1 6th of August last, near Camden, in the state of South 
Carolina." But Camden was the burial ground of the fame 
of General Gates, and he was deposed, while General Greene 
assumed command of the southern army. In September, 
1780, Smallwood was made a major-general and some of his 
fellow-officers intimated that he was honored only because 
he had left no stone unturned in his fight for self-advance- 
ment. "At Salisbury," writes Colonel Williams, "120 or 
130 miles from the scene of the late action, Smallwood took 
time to dictate those letters which he addressed to congress 
and in which he intimated the great difficulties he had 
encountered and the great exertions he had made to save 
a remnant of General Gates' army — letters which, with the 
aid of those he addressed to his friends in power, procured 
him, it is generally believed in the line, the rank of major- 
general in the army of the United States, and which prob- 
ably promoted the resolution of congress directing an 
inquiry into the conduct of General Gates." 



94 GOVERNORS OP MARYLAND 

Upon the death of Baron de Kalb, which occurred several 
days after the battle of Camden, General Small wood was 
promoted to command a division. But the removal of 
Gates brought him under Baron Steuben, and once more 
he found himself at odds with his fellow-officers. Small- 
wood refused to serve as subordinate to the foreigner and 
also demanded of congress that his own commission be dated 
two years back, upon penalty of losing him as an officer in 
the Continental forces if his request was not complied 
with. Washington went on record with an expression of 
displeasure at Smallwood's endeavor to engage Steuben in a 
controversy, while congress flatly refused to comply \N'ith 
Smallwood's demand; and yet he continued to ser\'e, 
remaining in the army until November 15, 1783. 

Smallwood was elected to congress in 1785. but before he 
could begin his duties in that body he was chosen, in No- 
vember of the same year, to succeed William Paca as state 
executive, and he served three terms of one year each as 
governor. During Smallwood's administration the country 
reached its low water mark as an independent nation. The 
colonies had granted ver)' small power to the central gov- 
ernment, and even this little authority was not respected. 
The country was in a chaotic state, and throughout the 
provinces pessimism was widespread. The success of the 
American colonies as independent and republican states 
was regarded as a visionary thing, a bubble that had been 
punctured. It was during Smallwood's administration 
that the colonies were finally influenced to accept the con- 
stitution of the United States. A few weeks after the ques- 
tion of adopting the constitution was submitted to the 
people of the several states by congress, Smallwood con- 
vened the assembly, November 5, 1787, and while that body 
was in session the delegates to the constitutional convention 
were inWted to appear before it and report. There was a 



WILLIAM SMALLWOOD 25 

strong opposition in the state against the constitution, led 
by Luther Martin, but finally, on April 28, 1788, the consti- 
tution was accepted. Smallwood's administration also 
witnessed the beginning of the work to improve the navi- 
gation of the Potomac, the settlement of the claims of 
British creditors and the devising of methods of paying the 
national debt. 

Governor Small wood was succeeded in 1788 by Gen. 
John Eager Howard, another Revolutionary hero, and 
retired to his estate in southern Maryland. As to his home 
life little can be said, since a bachelor is not supposed to 
have any home hfe, and Smallwood was never married. 
He died at Mattawoman, on Febuary 14, 1792. He 
requested that no stone should mark his grave, and it 
may have been due as much to his unpopularity in certain 
quarters as to any intention to respect his wish that up to 
a few years ago his final resting place was practically un- 
marked. A chestnut tree — sprung, it was claimed, from 
a nut that had been put into the soft mound of his freshly 
made grave — was for more than a century all that indicated 
where the body of Governor Smallwood lay. But on July 
4, 1898, the Maryland Society, Sons of the American Revolu- 
tion, erected a plain granite block, five feet high and nearly 
square, over the warrior's grave in Charles county. No 
more appropriate symbol could have been chosen for the 
man. 



V 

JOHN EAGER HOWARD 

During the years of the Revolution tliere were practically 
no political parties of pronounced doctrine in America, since 
no reason appeared for their existence. Everybody — except 
of course, the tories — was supposed to belong to the party 
which was opposing England, and it was not until after the 
independence of the American states had been fully assured 
that the former subjects of England living in the provinces 
began to shift about for some form of political faith. It 
must not be inferred that none of them had previously 
entertained views upon government, nor must it be sup- 
posed that certain forms of government had not already 
been devised; but how highly speculative were these still 
imperfect political faiths is shown by the custom, prevail- 
ing in the first years under the constitution, which counte- 
nanced a member of each of the two leading political par- 
ties becoming, at the command of congress, bedfellows, one 
as president and the other as vice-president. At the close 
of the Revolution the outlook in America was serious, 
because the several commonwealths were suspicious of one 
another, and therefore in no frame of mind to delegate to 
the representatives of other states any considerable voice in 
the conduct of their own affairs, while a large part of the 
American people was favorable to a policy which should 
reserve to each commonwealth its individuality as a sover- 
eign state. This led to the formation, in 1787, of a party 
known as the federalist, which had as its aim the support 
of the proposed constituti(jn of the United States. There 
also sprang up the anti-federalist party which was dis- 




COPYRIGHT. 1908. BY H. E. BUCHHOL2. 



JOHN EAGER HOWARD 27 

trustful of the expediency of placing in the hands of any 
central government large authority over the several states. 
The story of these two parties naturally concerns the 
reader who would follow the history of Maryland past the 
administration of Governor Small wood. The first four 
state executives were men of no party ; they may have had 
views upon government — they did, indeed, cultivate very 
decided views — but the opportunity for a man being a 
party politician did not arrive until about the close of 
Smallwood's administration, or in 1788, when Colonel 
Howard, a federalist, was elected to the executive office. 
John Eager Howard was bom at Belvedere, in Balti- 
more county, June 4, 1752, the son of Cornelius and Ruth 
(Eager) Howard. He was one of a vast army of young men, 
coming to maturity toward the outbreak of the Revolution, 
who had been trained simply for a life of ease. Private 
tutors hadbeen provided for him by an indulgent and well-to- 
do father, and from these he learned what he wanted to know 
and declined to study what did not appeal to him. When 
the first shot of the war was fired many of the wealthy 
young men of the country, who were ready always for a fox 
hunt or a skirmish, hied themselves to the scene of activity, 
and among them was young Howard. He had only a few 
years before reached maturity and was still but a stripling. 
It is recorded, that he expressed to a member of the com- 
mittee of safety a desire that he be permitted to join the 
rebels, and that friend promptly secured for him a commis- 
sion as colonel. Anecdotes, especially of the Revolutionary 
period, should be taken with more than a grain of salt, and 
yet the subsequent acts of Mr. Howard seem to give some 
plausibility to the rest of the story, which says that he con- 
fessed a distrust of his ability to fill the office of colonel, and 
insisted on being assigned instead to the position of captain. 
At all events when the "Flying Camp" moved northward 



a8 GOVERNORS OP MARYLAND 

Howard set forth to try his worth as a warrior. He was 
at the battle of White Plains on October 28, 1776. and in 
other smaller engagements. In December, when his term 
of service expired, he reenlisted, taking rank as a major in 
the Fourth Maryland. At the battle of Germantown, 
October 4, 1777, Howard assumed command of the regiment 
upon the disabling of Lieutenant-Colonel Hall. In June, 
1779, he was promoted to lieutenant-colonel, his commission 
dating from March 11. He accompanied the Mar>'land 
troops when they started for the Carolinas, in 1780, and was 
present at the disastrous battle of Camden. 

Throughout these years Mr. Howard advanced steadily; 
and succeeded in attracting to himself some attention as an 
officer of considerable ability, but it was not until 1781, or 
in the latter part of the Revolution, that he really won 
fame. His name is linked inseparably with the story of the 
battle of Cowpens, for it was there that an apparent Amer- 
ican defeat was turned to an American victory . and the Mary- 
lander was the man who did the turning. Victories were 
needed to cheer the hearts of the discouraged colonists, and 
for the cheer which Howard's feat sent forth the people were 
quick in according gratitude. 

On January 17, 1781, the British under Tarleton engaged 
the Continentals under General Morgan, including Howard's 
regiment. Morgan, observing that by the movement of 
the British army Howard's right was being exposed, ordered 
the latter to retreat. But before Howard could execute the 
order Tarleton began a charge. Colonel Howard seeing the 
enemy advance toward his regiment and feeling at his heart 
a twitching to be courteous and meet him halfway, disre- 
garded his orders, turned his men about and fired upon the 
enemy. Tarleton's men were unprepared for the shot which 
was poured in upon them and wavered in their advance. 
Their hesitancy was fatal, for General Howard, seeing them 



JOHN EAGER HOWARD 29 

falter, commanded his men to charge with fixed bayonets 
the Hne from which he had been ordered to protect himself 
by a retreat. The enemy was hung almost to a man upon 
the American's bayonets; Cowpens was a victory and How- 
ard thenceforth a hero. General Morgan rode up to his 
daring subordinate and said: "You have done well, for you 
are successful; had you failed I should have shot you." 
Upon which Howard calmly responded: "Had I failed 
there would have been no need of shooting me." 

A writer of the time is authority for the statement that 
Howard at that moment held in his hand the swords of 
seven British officers who had surrendered to him. But, 
of all the records of the affair there is none which wins 
as high admiration for the hero as a story which he himself 
related. It certifies that Howard, as daring as Smallwood 
while in action, possessed a depth of humanity that spoke 
of a heart even bigger than his courage. "My attention," 
wrote Howard, "was now drawn to an altercation of some 
of the men with an artilleryman, who appeared to make it a 
point of honor not to surrender his match. The men, 
provoked by his obstinacy, would have bayoneted him on 
the spot had I not interfered and desired them to spare the 
life of so brave a man. He then surrendered his match." 

In the battle of Eutaw Springs, September 8, 1781, How- 
ard's regiment was reduced to thirty men while Howard, 
toward the close of the struggle, fell, severely wounded. A 
few months later Howard set out for his home and of the 
departing Marylander General Greene wrote: "My own 
obligations to him are great — the public's still more so. He 
deserves a statue of gold, no less than the Roman and Gre- 
cian heroes." Colonel Howard retired to his home in 
Baltimore county, but, like many of the soliders who found 
their occupation gone, he soon turned to politics as a means 
of employing his talents. He was a member of the Conti- 



3© GOVERNORS OF MARYLAND 

nental congress in 1787 ami 1788, and in Ihc latter year was 
elected governor of Maryland to succeed General Small- 
wood. 

Mr. Howard appeared as the standard-bearer of a politi- 
cal body, which had not been the case with his predecessors 
in the executive office. He was very much a federalist and 
held to the principles of that party even up to the time when 
it opposed the second war with England. He served three 
terms of one year each as governor, being reelected in 
1789 and 1790. During this period the state of Maryland 
cast her six electoral votes for Washington as the first 
president. Governor Howard's administration also wit- 
nessed preparations for the founding of a national capital, 
the Maryland assembl> , voting, December 23, 1788, in 
favor of ceding a tract of land 10 miles square for the seat 
of the central government. When the legislature of Vir- 
ginia undertook to make a loan to the federal government 
for the purpose of erecting governmental buildings, the 
state of Maryland, 1789, provided for the sale of public 
lands to the amount of $72,000, the proceeds to be lent to 
the national government for the same purpose. At the 
close of his administration Colonel Howard retired to pri- 
vate life. In 1794 he was offered a position in the regular 
army with the rank of major-general, but declined it. The 
following year he was elected state senator and in 1796 
he was chosen as the successor of Richard Potts in the 
United States senate. The unexpired term to which Howard 
was chosen was for one year, and at the termination of this 
short service he was reelected for a full term of six years, 
serNnng until 1803. Howard had been invited by Washing- 
ton in 1795 to become a member of his official family by 
accepting the portfolio of war, but was (. onslraiiied to 
decline the office. 

Despite his natural inclination toward a military career 



JOHN EAGER HOWARD 3I 

and his political activities, Howard was a man who loved 
best the moments he spent at his own fireside. He had 
married, on May i8, 1787, Miss Margaret Chew of Phila- 
delphia. The Howards had five sons — almost all of whom 
won distinction in their state — and four daughters. Four 
of the boys, including the one named after Governor How- 
ard, were in the War of 181 2-1 5, taking part in the battle of 
North Point. His grandson, also bearing his name, was in 
the Mexican War, while George Howard, another son, was 
elected governor of Maryland. In 1814, while the British 
were occupying Washington, there was talk in Baltimore of 
capitulation. At this time Governor Howard organized 
a regiment of veterans, and, placing himself at their head, 
took the field, although he was not afforded opportunity to 
see much active service. Colonel Howard was a prominent 
figure in the councils of the federalist party until 18 16, 
when that organization named him for vice-president. 
But the federalists' stand in the War of 181 2-1 5 had been 
their undoing and Howard and his fellow candidates on the 
federal ticket were defeated. After that Colonel Howard 
was less active in public affairs. He spent his days in a 
quiet, peaceable, uneventful sort of life at Belvedere. Mrs. 
Howard died in 1824, and thereafter the old warrior and 
statesman was little seen in public. Early in October, 
1827, he contracted a severe cold, and died on the twelfth of 
that month. His funeral was attended by a host of high 
dignitaries, including President Adams. 



VI 

GEORGE PLATER 

Since "all the world's a stage," it is not unreasonable to 
assume that even history in many parts is only a record of 
the performance of those who make-believe. Yet, though 
history's pages generally be filled with talesof the heroic and 
the sensational, here and there is found evidence of the pres- 
ence of humbler creatures, who seem to be there chiefly to 
afford a background for their less retiring contemporaries. 
Occasionally the reader in the Revolutionary period of 
American history finds a page across which flits, as if by the 
merest chance, one of these modest historical personages; 
but instead of being offended because of the apparently un- 
warranted intrusion, heleams towelcome it with morewarmth 
than is given the appearance of many of the chief actors. 
And these quiet, unassuming men have their historic value. 
First of all. they bring home to him who surveys those times 
the fact that not all men were then conventional heroes. 
These commonplace characters serve, too, as ballast for a 
story that threatens sometimes to take on the aspect of 
myth. But to speak of one of the chief magistrates of 
Mar>'land as a commonplace man is, perhaps, to give offense ; 
and therefore the critical biographer of Governor Howard's 
successor is apt to be offensive. Not that Mr. Plater was an 
incapable man, nor that as a statesman he revealed small 
ability; but the even tenor of his life and the absence of any- 
thing notable in a career that had so many opportunities 
for notable service, cause his public record to be completely 
overshadowed by the lives of most of the leaders of his day. 




GEORGE PLATER 

1791-1792 




COPYRIGHT, tSOS, BY H. E. BUCHHOLZ. 



GEORGE PLATER 33 

George Plater was born at Sattorly, near Leonardtown, 
St. Mary's county, November 8, 1735. He was, therefore, 
at the time of the Revolution, one of the more mature citi- 
zens of the province as compared with the youths of John 
Eager Howard's stripe. His father. Colonel George Plater, 
had held among other public offices that of member of 
Lord Baltimore's council of state. The son was trained for 
the legal profession, but preparatory to taking up the study 
of law was graduated from William and Mary College (1753). 
As a lawyer he did not possess that passion for debate 
and appreciation of the spectacular that caused his fellows, 
of no greater mental caliber than he, to forge ahead of him. 
But his mind was well developed and he reverenced the 
law with a reverence that was little short of worship. 
Entering the political arena at Annapolis at a time when the 
public voice was beginning to be tinged with accusations 
and denunciations of England, Mr. Plater was almost 
bound to become infected with the germs of "opposition." 
A lawyer in the decade or so preceding the war for independ- 
ence had no surer way of informing the people that he was 
prepared to receive clients than by taking the stump in 
more or less intelligent discussion of England's disregard 
of the colonies' rights. But George Plater was never one 
of the violent fire-eaters. 

Early in his public career, from 1767 to 1773, he filled 
acceptably the position of naval officer at Patuxent, in 
which capacity his father had served before him. He was 
elected as a representative of his county in the convention 
that assembled at Annapolis on May 8,1776, and that invited 
Governor Eden, the representative of the English crown, to 
vacate. A few weeks later, May 26, he was appointed one 
of the council of safety, and he was elected a delegate from 
his county to the convention which met at Annapolis on 
August 14, 1776. While it has been inferred that Mr. 



34 GOVERNORS OP MARYLAND 

Plater was a commonplace man. it was rather with the aim 
to stress his quiet demeanor in filling the public otlices given 
him, as opposed to the gallery play of many men of his time, 
than to discredit him or belittle his intrinsic worth. He was 
not a man of large creative ability; he was not a legislator 
of extensive influence, nor did he possess an individuality 
of marked distinction; but withal he was a reliable represen- 
tative of the people as long as the atmosphere in which he 
existed was legal or constitutional. His value as a lawyer 
and a lawmaker came to be fully appreciated by both his 
constituents and the representatives at Annapolis, and on 
August 17, 1776, he was appointed a member of the com- 
mittee chosen "to prepare a declaration and charter and a 
form of government" for the state. He was elected a mem- 
ber of the Continental congress in 1778. serving consecu- 
tively until 1 781. After his service in the Continental con- 
gress he was repeatedly chosen as the representative of St. 
Mary's in the upper house of the general assembly and on 
several occasions was president of the senate. When the 
constitution of the United States was submitted to the 
several commonwealths for ratification, Mr. Plater was a 
member of the Maryland convention elected to vote upon 
the document This body, which finally ratified the consti- 
tution on April 28, 1788, was presided over by him. 

It is doubtful just how much Mr. Plater contributed to 
the defeat of the enemies of the constitution, but it is cer- 
tain that by his intelligent and just direction over a bcnly 
of men which was somewhat easily influenced he helped to 
win favor for the instrument which was designed to bind 
together the thirteen states. William Paca was anxious to 
!iave the convention adopt certain ainendments to the con- 
stitution, and was requested to prepare a scries of proposed 
changes; but when Mr. Paca rose to present his amendments, 
he was informed that the convention had been assembled 



GEORGE PLATER 35 

not to amend the constitution, but to vote for its ratifica- 
tion. A significant testimonial to Mr. Plater's guidance of 
the deliberations of the body is found in the record that, 
after the remarks of William Paca upon his proposed amend- 
ments, the convention offered a vote of thanks to its presi- 
dent and then adjourned without acting upon Paca's sugges- 
tion. In 1789 Mr. Plater appeared as a candidate for presi- 
dential elector on the federalistic ticket, and cast his vote 
for George Washington for president 

At the close of Mr. Howard's administration it seems that 
gubernatorial material was scarce. The legislature had 
become discouraged in the matter of electing governors, 
since it was a common occurrence for a citizen, after having 
been chosen governor of the state, upon being notified of 
his election by a committee of the legislature, to inform it 
that he could not serve. For this reason the legislators 
learned to train their gaze for available timber just a little 
lower than they had at first been accustomed to do. In 
1 791 they invited George Plater to serve as governor of 
Maryland, and Mr. Plater accepted, becoming the sixth 
governor of the state. Governor Plater's administration, 
however, was short. His health soon became impaired 
and early in the year following his election he died, breath- 
ing his last on February 10, 1792. He was buried at his 
birthplace, Sattorly. His brief service as chief magistrate 
of Maryland contains no single event of great moment out- 
side of the locating of the national capital — an affair in 
which Maryland had a deep concern. 

Mr. Plater was twice married. His first wife, who had 
been Miss Hannah Lee, died in 1763. His second wife was 
Elizabeth Rousby, a granddaughter of Ann Rousby, the 
widow of the first George Plater — Governor Plater's grand- 
father. This second marriage was solemnized on July lo, 
1764. 



VII 

JOHN HOSKINS STONE 

Toward the close of the eighteenth century Maryland 
stood sorely in need of a constructionist for governor. 
Some of the earlier state executives had been constructionist 
to a slight extent, but they were constructive legislators, not 
executives. Mr. Johnson, for instance, was not anxious 
to resume the administration of the state's affairs, because 
he had come to believe, that in the legislative halls or on the 
bench were open the only opportunities to blaze the way for 
more perfect government, and that in the executive office 
there was presented little chance to do more than represent 
the commonwealth socially. But with all his far-sighted- 
ness. Governor Johnson, among other leaders of his day, 
failed to see that the gubernatorial office was denied the 
right to become constructive only because no large man 
assumed the lead in imparting to the office this power. 
These leaders did not seem to realize the fact that the proper 
man with the proper spirit might broaden the dignity and 
prerogatives of the gubernatorial office until its social side 
should become secondary and its political power advance 
it to the first office in the state. It was not until after the 
second administration of Governor Lee that there was called to 
the executive chair a man who fully realized the needs of the 
occasion — who. too. possessed daring and originality enough 
to experiment, and was endowed with tact sufficient to 
avoid giving ofTense. This man, elected in 1794, was 
Governor Stone. 

John Hoskins Stone was bom in Charles county, Mary- 
land, in 1745. On his paternal side he was a descendant 




COPYRIGHT, 1908, BY H. E. BUCHHOLZ. 



JOHN HOSKINS STONE 37 

of William Stone, who, toward the close of the first half of 
the seventeenth century, was appointed governor of Mary- 
land by Lord Baltimore. His father was David Stone and 
his mother was a daughter of Daniel Jenifer. Young Stone 
was trained for a legal career. He received at the private 
schools of Charles county what was then considered a liberal 
education and obtained the finishing touches to his profes- 
sional training by being brought in contact with the lead- 
ing legal lights of the day. When the American Revolution 
became inevitable Mr. Stone had reached the age of thirty 
years and had already won a fair amount of attention as a 
lawyer, both in his own county and at Annapolis. In No- 
vember, 1774, he had been chosen to serve on the committee 
from Charles county which was to carry out the resolutions of 
congress. He was a member of the committee of corre- 
spondence and, in 1775, a member of the Association of 
Freemen of Maryland. Like many a young political leader 
of his day, he was prompt in answering the call to arms. 
Even before his native state had sanctioned a declaration of 
independence he mounted his war horse to fight for separa- 
tion. On January 14, 1776, he was elected a captain in 
Colonel Smallwood's First Maryland Battalion and served 
with sufficient distinction to receive a promotion to a 
colonelcy by the following December. But the military 
ability of Mr. Stone must always remain an unknown 
quantity, for when he had attained to a position where he 
would best be able to show the stuff of which he was made, 
misfortune interposed herself between him and opportunity. 
It is recorded that he fought with distinction at the battles 
of Long Island, White Plains, Princeton and Germantown, 
but at none of these places did he win greater praise than 
was accorded many of his fellow-officers. At the engage- 
ment of Germantown, however, he received a severe wound, 
which not only disabled him from further military service 



;8 GOVERNORS OP MARYI AND 

but crippled hiiu lur htc. Fur some time he clung to a vain 
hope that he would be able to resume service with the Conti- 
nental forces, but finally, on August i, 1779, he resigned his 
commission and again became a private citizen of Maryland. 
Mr. Stone's misfortune succeeded in diverting his ambi- 
tion from the military to the political field, and in November 
of the year 1779 he resumed his position in the council 
chambers of Maryland, and was named as a member of the 
executive council chosen to advise Thomas Sim Lee, then 
governor. Two years later in 1781, Mr. Stone became a 
clerk in the office of Robert Livingston, who was secretary 
of foreign affairs under the articles of confederation. He 
was elected a member of the house of delegates in 1786. and 
was named as one of the committee to prepare instructions 
for commissioners to the Philadelphia convention, which 
framed the constitution of the United States. For a period 
of several years thereafter Mr. Stone dropped somewhat 
from the public eye, but in 1794, when he was chosen gov- 
ernor of the State of Maryland, he assumed a position of 
much importance in both the affairs of Maryland and of 
the nation. He had been a hearty supporter of the federal 
party, and it was as a federal candidate that he was chosen 
governor. The newly elected executive realized first of all, 
that the office of chief magistrate in Maryland was not as 
important as it should be, and he devised means for aug- 
menting its dignity. He seeme'd indisposed to let the legis- 
lators not only pass the laws, but create them, while the 
governor devoted his time to basking in the smiles of fash- 
ionable society. The means which suggested itself to him 
is opening up a new avenue of influence for the guber- 
natorial office, was the outlining by the executive of the 
affairs of moment which to his mind were deserving of the 
consideration of the legislature. With the purpose of 
ihus enlarging the influence of his office, the governor 



JOHN HOSKINS STONE 39 

addressed a message to the legislature at the opening of the 
session, in which he called attention to those duties that he 
thought confronted it. The members of the assembly were 
pleased with the innovation of a governor's message. 
"Although not sanctioned by precedent," they wrote him, 
"or enjoined by the constitution, such communications 
certainly have their use, and we wish that future governors 
may follow the laudable example whenever it may seem 
expedient to submit to the legislature such matters as they 
shall judge deserving its attention." 

The inauguration of the practice of sending a message 
from the executive mansion to the legislature at the begin- 
ning of a session is the greatest monument of Governor 
Stone's constructive administration. Another accomplish- 
ment, though of less importance, was the aid which he, 
and the legislature at his instigation, rendered the national 
government in the matter of erecting buildings. After 
the city of Washington had been laid out and everything 
v^^as in readiness to begin construction, it was found that 
the available funds would not go far toward defraying the 
necessary expense. An effort was made to float a foreign 
loan, but it proved futile. As a last resort Washington 
wrote a personal appeal to Maryland to aid the federal 
government in its endeavors to house the machinery of the 
central government. In response to Washington's appeal 
Maryland, toward the end of 1796, lent the national govern- 
ment $100,000. This amount was subsequently increased 
on two occasions, making it $250,000. 

Another feature of Governor Stone's administration 
was the hearty support that was given by Maryland to 
Washington during that period when his enemies were 
making bitter attacks upon him. The Maryland assembly, 
on November 25, 1795, went on record as being fully in 
accord with Washington upon all the affairs of his admin- 



4© GOVERNORS OP MARYLAND 

istration and entirely opposed to those who sought to dis- 
credit him. The first president was again subjected to 
attacks in 1796, and in December of that year the legisla- 
ture once more expressed by resolution its full faith in 
Washington. Governor Stone wrote Washington, under 
date of December 16, 1796: "I consider it the most agreeable 
and honorable circumstance of my life that during my admin- 
istering the government of Marj'land I should have been 
t\N*ice gratified in communicating to you the unanimous 
and unreserved approbation of my countrymen of your 
public conduct, as well as their gratitude for your eminent 
services." Mr. Stone was twice reelected governor, bring- 
ing to an end his three terms of one year each in 1797. 
After his retirement from the executive mansion, he con- 
tinued to live in Annapolis \N'ith Mrs. Stone, who had been 
a Miss Couden before her marriage, and their daughter. 
But he gradually withdrew from public aflfairs. He died 
October 5, 1804. 







^ 



CO»Tai*MT, ••0«. ■* M t •UCMMUhl, 



' ' 'HOI ^^' -'^'^ 

give them a smaii control in that particu- 
"jii vcath's administration, every man, woman 
oi the state conspired against would have risen 
tly and armed for stubborn resistance. It is not 
hFrFfc-?, that in the childhood days of the United 
.Morn Shoreman of Maryland should have 
with liis fellow-statesman on the western 
Chesapeake and declared that the Western 
'uld not have one whit more authority in fl-^e 
the commonwealth's affairs than he. 
'^^ Arrf>ri-'^n': f'b:>.t was manifc""''^ 
r ;.s regarded a 

ody of men to control bec- 
*-^-^. And in the ar^-^'^* ■^■ 
•^nry as senatori. 

-re is found »t least a t-. 



VIII 

JOHN HENRY 

From the very beginning of America's struggle for inde- 
pendence the several states were violently and unreservedly 
opposed to sectional control. If it had been announced 
in the closing years of the eighteenth century that England 
contemplated attempting to resubjugate her American 
colonies, it is probable that the states in a leisurely sort of 
way would have appointed delegates to go to the mother- 
country and seek to convince her of the uselessness of such 
an attempt. But if a rumor had crept into anyone of the 
commonwealths that some state or states of another section 
contemplated assuming rule over it, or even meditated a 
course that woiild give them a small control in that particu- 
lar commonwealth's administration, every man, woman 
and child of the state conspired against would have risen 
up instantly and armed for stubborn resistance. It is not 
strange, therefore, that in the childhood days of the United 
States the Eastern Shoreman of Maryland should have 
taken issue with his fellow-statesman on the western 
banks of the Chesapeake and declared that the Western 
Shoreman should not have one whit more authority in the 
direction of the commonwealth's affairs than he. It was 
the spirit of all Americans that was manifesting itself, 
for the citizen of the United States regarded as poison the 
attempt of any body of men to control because of their 
geographical position. And in the ardent support which 
was accorded Mr. Henry as senatorial, gubernatorial and 
presidential candidate there is found at least a tracing of 



4 J GOVERNORS OP MARYLAND 

the determination of the Eastern Shoreman to di\'ide evenly 
between the two sections control of Maryland's affairs. 

John Henry was bom at Weston, the Henr>' home 
stead, in Dorchester county in the month of November, 
1750. His father. Colonel John Henry, represented his 
county in the legislature. His mother was a daughter of 
Colonel Rider, an Englishman, who came to America in 
the early part of the eighteenth century and settled in Dor- 
chester county. Young Henry was sent to the West Not- 
tingham Academy, in Cecil county, where he prepared for 
college. He then entered the College of New Jersey (sub- 
sequently Princeton), from which he was graduated in 1769. 
He continued his studies in New Jersey and later went to 
England, where he took up law in the Temple. In England 
he mingled freely in the best society, and while the war 
clouds were gathering in his native land, joined in merry 
debate with the youths of Britain upon the subjects that 
were being considered very seriously by his fellow-country- 
men at home. Mr. Henry sailed for America the year pre- 
ceding the rupture with England and immediately upon his 
arrival began to entertain his fellow-countians with the 
feats of argument which he had performed while engaged 
in mental battles with the young men across the sea. The 
manner of the speaker and his culture soon won him the 
favor of Eastern Shoremen, and he was sent to represent 
his county in the council hall of Marjiand. 

John Henry was elected delegate to the Continental con- 
gress in 1777 and served in that body from 1778 to 1781. 
He was again elected in 1784 and continued a member until 
1787. He was appointed in 1787 a member of the com- 
mittee which was to prepare an ordinance for the North- 
west Territory. During his first term in congress Mr. Henry 
was a warm cliampion of the men who were carrying on the 
. ..nfli. f in tlie fields and also a rather severe critic of the 



JOHN HENRY 43 

merchantmen who sought to reap a golden harvest through 
the pressing needs of the people. He was, first of all, a fear- 
less critic, and both the mercenaries, who were striving to 
amass fortunes by overcharging the people, and the legis- 
lators, who showed little wisdom in the management of 
the country's affairs, came in for blunt judgment at his 
hand. 

The close of Mr. Henry's service in the Continental con- 
gress witnessed an increase of the strife between the people 
of the Eastern and Western Shores of Maryland as to the 
division of power which should hold under the federal 
constitution. The chief concern of the people at this time 
centered upon the question of the election of two United 
States senators. On December 9, 1788, members of the 
state senate and of the house met in joint convention for 
the election of senators and the absence of unity in the 
state of Maryland was again manifested, for the Eastern 
Shore members carried a resolution which required that 
"one senator should be a resident of the Western Shore and 
the other of the Eastern Shore." John Henry and George 
Gale from the Eastern Shore and Charles Carroll of Carroll- 
ton and Uriah Forrest from the Western Shore were named. 
Several ballots were taken before any one candidate 
received the required number of the votes cast, and then 
John Henry, having polled forty-two tickets, was declared 
to have been elected. Mr. Henry was, therefore, the first 
senator elected by Maryland to a seat in congress. The body 
then adjourned until the following day, when the names of 
Charles Carroll and Uriah Forrest were put in nomination for 
the Western Shore senatorship, and Mr. Carroll was elected. 
The terms for which the first senators were elected were 
unequal, one being for six years and the other for only two 
years. The senators-elect drew for the terms which should 
fall to each and Mr Henry secured the six-year slip. At 



44 GOVERNORS OF MARYLAND 

the close of his first term, in 1795. he was reelected for 
four years additional, but did not complete the second 
temi, resigning to accept the governorship. 

In the election of Mr. Henry as executive of Maryland 
there is presented further eWdence of the struggle between 
Mar>'landers on the eastern side of the bay against any 
endeavor of the Western Shoremen to control the affairs of 
the state. General Smallwood, an Eastern Shoreman, who 
served as state executive many years before Mr. Henry, was 
not chosen to office because of his political faith nor the 
section of his birth; but solely upon his military record. 
He represented the sentimental candidate, and as far as 
political affairs were concerned was a nonentity. But 
when Mr. Henry was nominated in the closing days of 1797, 
his candidacy appealed to some people most forcibly be- 
cause he represented a section, and had been selected by 
the voters upon the Eastern Shore as a fit subject upon 
whom to bestow the greatest honor at their command. He 
had, however, long been a prominent laborer in the fed- 
eralist party. When the countr>' was called upon to elect 
a successor to President Washington in 1795 the name of 
John Henry was mentioned for that office, and he polled 
two votes in the electoral college; the same number that 
was given to Washington, who, however, had some time 
before declared that under no circumstances would he 
become a candidate for reflection. 

John Henry was elected the successor of Governor Stone 
on November 13, 1797, on the joint ballot of the two houses. 
But he was not altogether to the liking of the entire body 
of legislators, and some daring opponent of his moved 
that the words "unanimously elected," customarily entered 
upon the record when a candidate was unopposed, be 
stricken from the minutes. In other words, the election 
was not unanimous; but the majority of the members of 



JOHN HENRY 45 

the legislature decided that it should be entered as "unani- 
mous" and refused to grant the requested change in the 
journal of the legislature. Governor Henry was in office for 
but one year. Because of failing health he declined to 
stand for reelection. His administration was marked by 
a thorough reorganization of the militia of the state. At 
this time the country was putting on its war paint prepara- 
tory to doing battle with its late ally, France. It was stirred 
to its depths with hatred for the nation to which it had 
sworn a lasting friendship. Washington, but lately retired 
from public affairs, was called out of his seclusion and 
directed once more to lead the American army into action 
as its commander-in-chief. The people in Maryland and 
throughout the Union began to build fortifications and to 
prepare generally for a conflict. And then, when there 
had been as much excitement as could have been gotten 
out of an actual war, the bubble was pricked, the war clouds 
dispersed and America extended the hand of friendship to 
France. On November 12, 1798, Thomas Sim Lee was 
elected governor of Maryland as successor to Mr. Henry. 
He declined to serve, however, and two days later Benjamin 
Ogle was chosen in his stead. 

John Henry had been married in 1787, to Miss Mar- 
garet Campbell, of Caroline county, by whom he had two 
sons. Like Governor Lee, he left no portrait of himself. 
He died at Weston, December 16, 1798, after having 
spent a little more than one month in retirement from 
the executive mansion. He was buried in the old family 
burial ground at Weston. In 1908 his body was removed 
to Christ Episcopal Cemetery, Cambridge, Md., and over 
his grave a fitting memorial monument was erected by 
his descendants. 



IX 

BKNJAMIN ()(;LE 

When the legislature, in 1798, undertook to provide a suc- 
cessor to Governor Henry, its choice first fell upon Thomas 
Sim Lee, who had already had two administrations of 
three and two years, respectively. Governor Lee was at 
this time the strongest federalist that Maryland afforded, 
but he declined to serve again as the executive of the state. 
The legislature had several times been forced to accept a 
declination from one who had been chosen to the high office 
of governor, and invariably after one of these humiliating 
experiences it sought out a less conspicuous citizen upon 
whom to bestow the honor. On November 14, 1798, there- 
fore, the senate and house in joint session presented the 
names of two men who had not won great fame theretofore 
in the affairs of the commonwealth, and Benjamin Ogle and 
Nicholas Carroll were nominated for the office of governor. 
The interest — or lack of it — that was manifested by others 
than the assembly members and the two candidates in the 
result of this election is indicated by an item in the federal 
Gazette of Baltimore, Thursday, November 15, 1798, in 
which announcement is made that: "A gentleman from 
Annapolis has politely handed us the following correct elec- 
tions by the general assembly of governor anti council — 
Benjamin Ogle, governor; Messrs. Shaaf, Davidson, Thomas, 
Bricc and Wilmcr, council. " 

Benjamin Ogle, the successful candidate, was a son of 
Samuel Ogle, whose name occupies much space in the colo- 
nial history of Maryland, where he is recorded as one of 
the proprictan' governors and a man of much independence 



BENJAMIN OGLE 

1798— 1801. 




COPYRIGHT. 



BUCHHOLZ 



BENJAMIN OGLE 47 

and courage. Benjamin Ogle was born at Annapolis on 
February 7, 1746. He had not, however, reached an age 
when the great drama being acted before his eyes would be 
intelligible to him when death brought to a close his father's 
participation in American affairs. Although his grand- 
father, Benjamin Tasker, succeeded to the direction of the 
state's government, young Ogle was early sent to England 
to receive his education, and in this way was denied any 
part in the bitter discussions that tore asunder the people 
of America and the representatives of the English authori- 
ties just before the Revolution. When he returned to 
America he immediately began to play a part, though a 
modest one, in the affairs of Maryland. He was a mem- 
ber of the council and also served upon a county com- 
mittee of observation, but he attracted no great amount 
of attention through either position. During the years of 
the Revolution he occupied a rather inconspicuous place 
in Maryland affairs, generally holding aloof from the stir- 
ring events of those stirring years. He first came into real 
prominence in the government of the commonwealth when 
he was elected state executive in 1798. 

The feature of Governor Ogle's administration that 
assumed the greatest importance was the widening of the 
chasm between federalists and republicans. Mr. Ogle's gov- 
ernorship did not witness a pitched battle between these two 
political forces, except in so far as the legislature selected 
as his successor one who was allied with the republican 
party. But the years during which Benjamin Ogle was 
executive witnessed a disastrous blow to the political adher- 
ents of the federalistic faith in the loss of Washington. It 
has been asserted that but for the large influence of Washing- 
ton the constitution of the United States would not have 
been adopted by Maryland. The assertion is, perhaps, a 
bit extravagant ; but it must be admitted that no other man 



48 GOVERNORS OP MARYLAND 

inspired ihe people of Maryland and of the other states with 
confidence in the proposed constitution to such an extent 
as did Washington. The name of Washington was the 
watchword of the federal party. His death, therefore, was 
an enormous misfortune to the members of his political 
faith. As long as the party leaders had his name to parade 
before the people when the public's confidence wavered, 
so long were they able to cope with the attacks of their 
enemies. But when the influence of Washington's name 
as a political factor was lost, and at the same time the 
strength of the republicans began to assert itself more posi- 
tively, then the people of the country generally — except, of 
course, the more optimistic republican leaders — became 
greatly alarmed. From one end of the nation to the other 
the people lost confidence, and the preparations of the repub- 
licans to strive after control of afTairs in states and nation 
were regarded as presaging the downfall of the American 
republic. 

When the death of Washington was announced. Governor 
Ogle, in compliance with the request of the general assembly, 
issued a proclamation, December i8, 1799, suggesting that 
"the eleventh day of February next be observed through- 
out this state as a day of mourning, humiliation and prayer 
for the deceased ; that the citizens on that day go into mourn- 
ing and abstaining, as far as may be, from their secular 
occupation, devote the time to the sacred duties of religion; 
that they call to mind the virtues, public services and un- 
shaken patriotism of the deceased, and admiring, endeavor 
to emulate them; that they implore the Most High God to 
supply his loss by inspiring them with a love of true liberty 
and pure religion, and by dispensing the blessing of peace 
and knowledge throughout the land; and that He would 
grant to the people of this and the United States, that the 
wisd<im and virtues of a Washington may never cease to 
influence and direct our public councils. " 



BENJAMIN OGLE 49 

Maryland's history in the closing years of the eighteenth 
century reflects in no uncertain way the conflict which was 
on between the federalists and the republicans, and the 
alarm caused by the latter's doctrine that the people should 
not regard as paramount in a man's fitness to direct public 
affairs the question of either birth or wealth. This con- 
flict did not reach its full blossom until the early part of the 
nineteenth century, but the years that were covered by the 
administration of Governor Ogle witnessed preparation for 
battle, the alignment of opposing forces; it was the eve of a 
political war in America for advancement along republican 
lines in government. 

Governor Ogle was, in a way, the last of the old-time 
federalist executives. He held office while the republican 
forces under Jefferson were striving, and with success, to 
oust the federalists from control of national affairs. He 
was in office while the leaders of Maryland were assembling 
their followers for a like struggle within the state. But 
he was unmolested by either conflict. He represented the 
federal party, yet his administration, while not noteworthy 
for any advancement which he sought or helped to engineer, 
was sufficiently conservative to be inoffensive to the legis- 
lature, no matter how its political complexion might be 
changing. The greatest praise, perhaps, that can be ac- 
corded him as state executive is that of having held office 
for three years without permitting the rancor that was ram- 
pant throughout the country to reach the garments of the 
chief magistrate; and, when the bitterness and excite- 
ment of the period is borne in mind, this accomplishment 
need not be regarded as insignificant. After the close of 
Ogle's administration, in 1801 — when he was no longer 
eligible for reelection because of the constitutional proviso 
which restricted the state executive to three terms of one 
year each — he retired to his estate, Belair, where he spent 



his remaining days. Guvernor Oj»lc was twice married. 
Miss Rebecca Stilley and Miss Henrietta Margaret Hill being 
his first and seiond wives, respectively. He died on July 6, 
1809. in his sixty-fourth year. 



JOHN KRCER 




X 

JOHN FRANCIS MERCER 

It is a common practice of American historians to trace 
the downfall of the federalist party to a host of contribu- 
tory causes, all of which are made to appear fairly plausible, 
but none of which is absolutely conclusive. The weak 
spot of the federal party was not its political doctrines 
so much as its social decrees; and when the enemies of the 
federalists beheld the vulnerable spot in their opponents' 
defense they threw their whole strength against it and won 
success. In the Maryland constitution, as adopted in 1776, 
the right to vote was confined to those who were above 
the age of twenty-one and possessed real or personal 
property to a specific amount. A candidate for member of 
the house of delegates was not eligible unless he owned 
property to the value of ;^5oo; a candidate for the state 
senate had to possess at least ;^i,ooo in his own right, 
and the office of governor was not open to those who were 
not independently rich. The struggle of the republicans 
(the founders of the present democratic party) against the 
federalists was for a complete revision of this method of 
prescribing who should enjoy the elective franchise and 
hold public office. In 1801 the leaders who were striving 
for reforms, for a winning of America from aristocracy — 
toward which it was trending — to republicanism' — for which 
they felt the blood of her sons had been spilled — succeeded 
in gaining control of the executive mansion, and with the 
beginning of republican rule in Maryland was inaugurated 
a campaign against these unrepublican laws in the matter 
of governing the commonwealth. But the election of a 



5a GOVERNORS OP MARYLAND 

republican governor to succeed Mr. Ogle represents more 
than a turning from aristocratic principles; it is significant 
as showing how the political leaders of the state were sub- 
stituting for a blind reverence of all things fe<leralistic a 
practical appreciation of things meritorious. The feder- 
alists, in the day of their glory, scornfully cast out those 
who were not of their way of thinking. The proposed 
federal constitution had not pleased all the intellectual 
giants of the land; but it pleased the majority, and this 
majority arrogantly ignored the views of the minority. 
Mr. Mercer, the new chief magistrate, however, was not 
only a man who at the time of his election stood for 
republican doctrines, but one who, in the days before the 
adoption of the constitution, had strongly opposed that 
instrument. 

John Francis Mercer was bom at Marlborough, Stafford 
county. Va., on May 17, 1759. He was the son of Robert 
and Ann (Roy) Mercer and grandson of Robert Mercer, Sr., 
who emigrated to Virginia in 1740. He received what in 
those days was considered a liberal academic education, 
being graduated from William and Mary College in 1775. 
His father planned to have him prepare for the legal pro- 
fession; but the oncoming storm that was to free the colo- 
nies interfered. As soon as war became inevitable, young 
Mercer cast aside his books and sought an opportunity to 
take up arms against England. Early in the year 1776 
he announced his intention of joining the Revolutionary 
forces, and on February 26, 1776, was commissioned lieuten- 
ant in the Third Virginia Regiment. He took part in the 
battle of Brandywine on September ii, 1777, when he was 
slightly wounded. In the same month he was promoted to 
captain, his commission dating from June 2 7,''^ and the 
following year he became attached as aide-de-camp to the 
stafi of the ill-fated and ill-humore<l Charles Lee. 



JOHN FRANCIS MERCER 53 

Under Lee he was in the battle of Monmouth, June 28, 
1778, when his chief willfully disobeyed the orders of 
Washington and by his conduct left the commander-in- 
chief no alternative but to have him court-martialed. 
Despite the disgrace of General Lee, Mr. Mercer stood 
faithfully by him, and when the former was suspended for 
a year and finally deprived of his commission his aide in 
sympathy surrendered his own commission and returned to 
his home in Virginia. But Mercer did not long remain in 
retirement. Upon his return to his native state he set about 
recruiting a regiment of horse soldiers, which he equipped at 
his own expense, and then offered their services to the Con- 
tinental army. He was commissioned lieutenant-colonel and 
his regiment was joined to the brigade commanded by Gen. 
Robert Lawson. In this command Colonel Mercer saw 
service at Guilford, N. C, as well as in other engagements 
during the dismal southern campaign. He later joined 
Lafayette, with whom his regiment remained until the 
termination of hostilities. 

After the war Mr. Mercer returned to Marlborough 
and began to study law. While studying he came in close 
relations with one who in later years exerted a remarkable 
influence over his career. His preceptor was Thomas 
Jefferson, and at the feet of the founder of democratic 
principles in America Mr. Mercer learned not only law, but 
also the true meaning of republicanism as differentiated 
from that policy of aristocracy which at first shaped affairs 
in the United States, and throughout his life he continued 
a faithful disciple of Jefferson. In 1782 Mercer was elected 
a delegate from Virginia to the Continental Congress, 
and served in that body until 1785. At this time a new 
influence came into his life, which was responsible for chang- 
ing the scene of his activity from the Old Dominion to 
Maryland. Miss Sophia Sprigg, the daughter of a promi- 



54 GOVERNORS OP MARYLAND 

nent resident of Anne Arundel county, became Mrs. Mercer, 
and the couple "set up house" at the home of the bride. 
Cedar Park on West river. 

Mercer was not long in Maryland before he found a loop- 
hole through which to effect an entrance into the political 
circles of the state. He had attaine<l sufficient prominence 
by a little more than a year's residence in the county to be 
sent as a delegate to the convention which framed an instru- 
ment for the government of the states to supersede the 
unsuccessful articles of confederation. This was in 1787; 
Mr. Mercer, however, with other opponents of a centrali- 
zation of governmental authority, fought bitterly against 
the proposed constitution. When these opponents found 
their voice did not prevail and that the majority of the 
members of the convention ignored their protests, they 
withdrew from the convention. With the bolters, besides 
Mr. Mercer, were Luther Martin, of Maryland, and George 
Mason, of Virginia. Martin, as the attorney-general of 
Maryland, appeared before the state convention appointed 
to consider the proposed federal constitution, and in an 
eloquent speech set forth all the weak points of the 
instrument. But despite the protests of Martin and Mercer, 
Mar>'land, in 1788, ratified the constitution. Although 
Mercer had opposed the constitution, he appeared as a 
candidate for the national house of representatives in the 
first election held under that instrument. In this election, 
held in January, 1789, Mr. Mercer was not announced as a 
republican — for the republican party had not then been 
formed — but came before the voters as an anti-federalist. 
As was to have been expected, all the successful candidates 
were supporters of the recently ratified constitution, but 
Mercer did not make as unfavorable a sho\\-ing as might 
have been ex[>ccted when his action in the constitutional 
conventi(^n is borne in mind. 



JOHN FRANCIS MERCER 55 

Three years later, 1792, Mr. Mercer was chosen a member 
of the state legislature, and shortly afterward he was sent 
to congress, being named to fill the unexpired term of 
Representative William Pinkney, resigned. He served in 
the house of representatives from February 6, 1792, to April 
13, 1794. From this latter date up to the beginning of the 
nineteenth century Mr. Mercer did not occupy official posi- 
tion, but labored faithfully in Maryland in the interests of a 
reform in the governmental system. The federal party 
continued in control of the state's affairs until 1801, 
though for many years every inch of its way was contested. 
Finally, the republican party succeeded in gaining a foot- 
hold in the house of delegates and a large enough represen- 
tation in the state senate to elect John Francis Mercer as 
governor, November 9, 1801. Governor Mercer served 
two terms of one year each, being reelected in 1802. His 
administration is noteworthy for radical reforms in the 
governmental institutions of Maryland. But the chief of 
these reforms must of necessity lose much of its significance 
to the reader of today, who has been reared in an atmosphere 
where the vote of the poor man is supposed, at least, to 
equal that of the citizen of wealth in the choosing of legis- 
lators. The day when only aristocrats were the voters and 
office-holders and custom-takers are so far removed that in 
the distance nearly all of the detail is lost. But it was that 
political organization whose representative — Mercer — was in 
the executive chamber which first gave to Marylanders real 
equality. 

In 1 80 1 the same general assembly which elected a re- 
publican governor passed a bill — originating in the strongly 
republican house — by which the right to vote was given to 

every free white male citizen of this state * * * above 
twenty-one years of age, having resided twelve months in 
the county next preceding the election at which he offers 



56 GOVERNORS OP MARYLAND 

to vote." This law opposed the practice of confining the 
elective franchise to those citizens who possessed freeholds 
of at least fifty acres of land. This one attainment of the 
Mercer administration so completely overshadows all other 
things that it assumes the aspect of being the one feature of 
importance. 

Governor Mercer was succeeded in 1803 by Robert Bovsie, 
another republican, and returned to his estate, Cedar Park. 
For some years thereafter he lived in retirement, looking 
after his personal interests. Subsequently, however, he 
ser\'cd on several occasions in the state legislature. When 
the agitation for a second war with England was in progress, 
Mr. Mercer sided with the federalist party, inasmuch as he 
was opposed to the conflict. He framed a petition calling 
upon congress to use its influence to prevent an outbreak of 
hostilities and secured thereto many signatures, but the 
paper never reached the hands for which it had been in- 
tended. The ex-govemor went to Philadelphia in 1821 to 
consult with physicians there regarding an affliction from 
which he was suflfering. But the journey proved futile. 
He died in Philadelphia on August 20, 1821, while under 
treatment. 



XI 

ROBERT BOWIE 

Certain apologists, performing for a season the duties 
of historians, have sought to read into the early state history 
of Maryland naught but what is admirable, patriotic and 
sublime. While the sentiments which actuated them are 
undoubtedly noble, their performances have frequently 
done less to excite favorable regard than would have been 
the case had they been critical instead of worshipful. It is 
possible, for instance, for the highly imaginative to see in 
Maryland's partial opposition to the second war with Eng- 
land only an all-controlling love of peace and concord; but 
it is more in accord with the facts to remember, when 
approaching that period of the state's history which paral- 
lels the war of 1812-15, that many of the leaders who 
denounced the conflict did not love peace and concord one- 
half so much as they did their own pet theories, which they 
were trying to saddle upon the people. Again, it is pos- 
sible for the apologist to find certain credulous followers 
when he explains away the several mob outbreaks at this 
time by charging them to a foreign and ruffian element; 
but the Baltimore mob, which gave evidence of the crim- 
inal extremes to which uncontrolled patriotism may go, was 
in truth very representative of a large portion of the pop- 
ulation of Maryland in the closing years of the eighteenth 
century and in the first part of the nineteenth century. 
These men in their day indulged in public ceremonies, which, 
if practiced today, would create considerable doubt as to the 
sanity of the participants. Publicly to burn effigies and 
portraits of those who had fallen under the people's dis- 



58 GOVERNORS OP MARYLAND 

pleasure was a common practice, then given all the form- 
ality of a state ceremony; and the same men whom some 
historians seek to make so serious and lofty-purposed went 
further, and took part in the public interment of the ashes 
of such eftigics and likenesses after they had burned them. 
This lack of proper restraint is not dwelt upon to dis- 
parage the people of Maryland of a century ago, but rather 
as a means toward understanding fully the actions of cer- 
tain leaders of that time. It intensifies the light which 
existing chronicles throw upon the life of the first Governor 
Bowie, for without the background of excessively enthusi- 
astic partisans and of the general wild delirium of his time 
Mr. Bowie might be unjustly discounted because of some 
peculiar traits which he displayed on certain occasions and 
which were really characteristic of his time. 

Robert Bowie, third son of Capt. William and Margaret 
(Sprigg) Bowie, was bom at Mattaponi, near Nottingham, 
Prince George's county, in March, 1750. He attended suc- 
cessively the schools of Rev. Mr. Eversfield. near his own 
home, and of Rev. Mr. Cradock, near Baltimore. But in 
his youth he gave first thought to romance and things ro- 
mantic, and was daring enough to put his visionary theories 
into practice early by eloping with the daughter of Gen. 
James John Mackall, Priscilla, who, when young Bo\\ie 
discovered her attractions, was not yet fifteen years of 
age, while her impulsive swain was just past nineteen. 
With the rashness of youth they married immediately; 
the union fortunately revealed in later years the uncon- 
scious wisdom of the principals. Bowie's father pre- 
sented him a house and lot in Nottingham and also a farm 
on the outskirts of the village, and in 1791. when the elder 
Bowie died, the son inherited the paternal estate of 
Mattaponi, where he usually spent his summer months. 

Bowie was twenty-four years of age when the Freeholders' 



ROBERT BOWIE 59 

convention at Upper Marlboro, in November, 1774, placed 
him on a committee to carry into effect the resolutions of the 
Continental congress. On September 12, 1775, he, with 
certain others of his fellow-countians, was instructed to 
enroll a company of "minute men," and early in 1776 Mr. 
Bowie was commissioned first lieutenant of a company of 
militia organized in Nottingham. He was promoted to 
a captaincy on June 21, 1776, and accompanied the 
Maryland forces when they joined Washington in his early 
campaign near New York. Captain Bowie took part in 
several of the important battles of the Revolutionary War, 
and, although he won no great glory, he always displayed 
good judgment and courage. When a treaty of peace was 
patched up between England and her former colonies, Mr. 
Bowie returned to his county and sought fresh excitement 
in politics. Despite his long absence, he soon won enough 
support to be sent to the house of delegates. On October 
15, 1785, he was elected a member of the lower house of the 
general assembly, and he was reelected five times consecu- 
tively. 

Then there was a break of ten years in Bowie's political ser- 
vice, during which time, however, he filled the post of major 
of militia and also that of justice of the peace in Prince 
George's county. When Maryland began to experiment with 
things democratic, Mr. Bowie was again given a place in the 
council halls, being in the lower house of the general assembly 
from 1 801 to 1803. During this period Governor Mercer, 
the first republican state executive, directed the affairs of 
the commonwealth, and his administration witnessed a 
breaking away from those old ideas which denied to a man 
who had not been born in a silk-stocking or fat-pursed 
family the capacity for thinking or acting upon affairs of 
government. But the pendulum of public sentiment was 
not to pause halfway between the extremes of federalism 



6o GOVERNORS OF MARYLAND 

and democracy. Mercer was not radical enough for the 
masses who then, for the first time, were fechng the effects of 
equahty theories which they had freely imbibed until they 
were in a state of intoxication. Mercer was democratic, 
but he was not radically democratic, and therefore the 
people clamored for someone who should stand for radi- 
calism and Mr. Bowie seemed the man. 

On November 17, 1803, the general assembly cast a 
majority of its votes in favor of Mr. Bo\\'ie as successor to 
Governor Mercer. At this time he was a member of the 
general assembly, but on the following day he presented his 
resignation to the house of delegates that he might assume 
charge of the gubernatorial office. Governor Bowie was 
reelected for a one year term in 1804 and again in 1805, 
which made his first administration cover the period from the 
fall of 1803 to the fall of 1806, the full three years for which he 
was eligible. The first Bowie administration was noteworthy 
on account of two national events of moment. The one 
was the reelection of Thomas Jefferson The other was 
the beginning of foreign interference with American com- 
merce. While the European nations had been engaged 
generally in warring with one another, the maritime inter- 
ests of the United States had grown considerably, until 
the new nation came to assume a position of no little impor- 
tance in the commerce of the world. As soon, however, 
as England and France laid aside their weapons of war long 
enough to realize that a commercial competitor had arisen, 
there was born a determination to crush the shipping 
industry of the United States by whatever means would 
produce most quickly the desired results. Thus began the 
depredations of the mother country upon the commerce of 
her late colonies, and on this hinged the War of 181 2- 181 5, 
as well as the bitter conflict to the death between the feder- 
alists and the republicans. Although the full effect of this 



ROBERT BOWIE 6l 

conflict between the two political bodies that came to pose 
as the "war party" and the "peace party" was not felt until 
some years after the close of Bowie's first administration, 
nevertheless the widening of the gap between these two 
organizations bore fruit during his initial service as gover- 
nor in a struggle which resulted in the impeachment of 
Judge Samuel Chase — as strictly partisan a bit of work as 
the bringing to trial of Andrew Johnson at the close of the 
Civil War, and fully as undignified a proceeding. 

After his retirement in 1807, Governor Bowie was ap- 
pointed a justice of the peace. The following year he was 
named as a member of the levy court of his county, and 
he was a presidential elector in 1809, for Madison. But it 
was not until the year 181 1 — the eve of the second war 
with England — that he once more came into prominence 
as the state champion of the republican party of Maryland, 
The federalists were then fighting bitterly against the 
advocates of war with England, and the federalists, while 
not in control of the state affairs, were still a considerable 
factor in Maryland politics. The party was strong enough 
to defeat Bowie when he was brought forward as a candi- 
date for senatorial elector, but the republicans had a strong 
hand in the general assembly and succeeded, on November 
II, 181 1, in again electing him chief magistrate. At this 
time there were practically only two political divisions in 
the state and 1ihe distance between the two was vast. The 
federalists were, with few exceptions, against a declaration 
of hostilities with England. The republican party, almost 
unanimously, was for war. 

In June, 181 2, congress declared war, and the news, 
reaching Annapolis, fired the heart of the "war" executive. 
The Annapolis Gazette of that date records that "the Gov- 
ernor was so rejoiced when he heard the news that he did 
not wait for his hat, but proceeded through the streets 



6a GOVERNORS OP MAKVI.AND 

bareheaded to the state house, where he congratulated the 
leaders upon the welcome news." When the governor of 
the slate could show such uncontrolled enthusiasm, it is 
not to be wondered at that the less cultured people of the 
state who were of his own political faith should also have 
been deeply stirred. Throughout Maryland the supporters 
of Bowie were aroused to a high pitch of excitement. Unfor- 
tunately, at this ver>' moment the editor of a Baltimore 
l)aper was indiscreet enough to print an article that 
ingered those against whom it was directed. It was a 
red rag cast before the face of an already maddened bull, and 
the bull, true to his nature, gored the tormentor. The 
people of the city turned out and killed a few federalists and 
beat a few others, and then returned home to gloat over the 
fact that the nation had actually entered upon a foreign 
war. 

It was this excess of the republicans that did most at 
that time to take from them their lately acquired power in 
Maryland aflairs. Since the governor was a republican 
and the members of the Baltimore mob were republicans, 
the inference was made that the deeds of violence per- 
formed were not altogether distasteful to the state's execu- 
tive. Bowie was requested to apprehend the instigators 
of the riot, and because he failetl the federalists accused him 
of shielding criminals. Whatever blame was chargeable 
to Bowie, cither for the uprising against tlve federalists or 
for the escape of their assailants, he was made to suffer 
greatly for the affair. The most positive result was the 
terminating of his political career, for thereafter, although 
all his energies were concentrated upon a series of endeavors 
to regain his former hold upon the political machinery of 
the state, he was not a considerable factor in Maryland. 
At the close of his term he was succeeded by a fetleralist, 
Levin Winder. 



ROBERT BOWIE 63 

From 181 2 until his death Mr. Bowie fought to be 
returned to the executive chair, and in his endeavors 
he was ably seconded by the unbroken rank of the republi- 
can party. In 1813 and again in 18 14 he opposed Winder 
and 1815 and in 181 6, he was the republican candidate 
against Ridgely, federalist, but at all of these elections 
his followers were unable to count enough ballots to 
bring him the coveted vindication. In 18 17 an effort was 
made to elect him United States senator, but once more the 
labors of his followers were futile. He was a man of remark- 
able determination, as is shown by his unceasing struggle 
to regain his authority in the state, and he was a man who 
held unwaveringly the confidence of his fellow-men, as is 
attested by the continued support of his followers despite re- 
peated defeats. What his tenacity and the hearty support 
of his friends might have finally accomplished for Bowie 
must forever remain an unsolved problem, for in the winter 
of 18 1 7 he was attacked by pneumonia, which resulted in 
his death on January 8, 1818. 



XII 

R0HI:R 1 WRIGHT 

A source of no little bewilderment to the average reader 
of early national history is the almost endless array of 
"great" statesmen who then administered the afTairs of 
federal and state governments. Every commonwealth, 
according to the chroniclers of its early state history, would 
appear to have contributed an amazingly large quota of 
masters in the art of statecraft, so that it may seem as if 
the bulk of genius for statesmanship that has been cultured 
by American soil was concentrated in the half century begin- 
ning about 1765. But this apparent disproportionateness 
between the ratio of "great" statesmen to the population 
a hundred or more years agoand today does not really extend 
beneath the surface of things. The reader who follows his- 
tory as a pastime rather than as a study must keep fully 
in mind two conditions which have tended to give undue 
prominence to the labors of the early participants in public 
afTairs in Maryland and the other sections of the United 
States. The first of these conditions is the result of a 
practice of American historians in general, which may be 
regarded as either a crime or a virtue according to the views 
of the individual, of stressing unduly all early history and 
slighting indiscriminately all later history. The second 
condition which has tended to exaggerate the importance 
of national and state laborers of early years in American 
afTairs is a natural one. The extent of the nation from north 
to south was almost as g^reat in those years as it is 
tCKlay. while the borders stretched far to the west wan! . 
At the same time there had not been introduced any modes 








ROBERT WRIGHT 
I 806- I 809 





COPYRIGHT. 190a, BY H. E. BUCHHOLZ. 



ROBERT WRIGHT 65 

of rapid transportation, and, therefore, figuratively speak- 
ing, the expanse of the United States was greater a century 
ago than in 1908, for in the mind of the average early citizen 
Boston was farther removed from Baltimore than is San 
Francisco today. In addition to this, the land was sparsely 
populated, and these two natural circumstances were bound 
to dilate in the eyes of the masses the importance of any 
residents in their own neighborhood who attained to even 
a small degree of prominence in strictly local affairs. 

Some readjustment of the standards of measurement is 
essential before approaching the public career of Governor 
Wright, who succeeded Robert Bowie, so that the true worth 
of his services to state and nation can be ascertained. 
Mr. Wright was, first of all, a man free of shams and one who 
did not indulge in heroics for the applause of the gallery. 
He was, at the proper time, as much a cavalier as any of his 
fellow-citizens, and countenanced the meeting of two men 
upon a field of honor to engage in shooting at one another's 
anatomy. He was also, at the proper time, as ready as any 
of his fellow-citizens to engage in popular discussions of the 
day, but, not altogether in keeping with the majority of 
his fellows, he made such debate a battle of arguments and 
well-thought-out conclusions instead of a word-juggling 
exhibition with flowers of speech and mock sentiments. He 
was, nevertheless, both a rhetorician and an orator. In 
brief Mr. Wright possessed to a very considerable degree the 
qualities of a statesman, though it were wrong to class him 
as a "great" statesman both for truth's sake and the fact 
that the term has been so long abused in connection with 
those not richly endowed, that it means decidedly less than 
simply statesman. 

Robert Wright was the son of Judge Solomon Wright, 
whose ancestors for several generations back had been prom- 
inent in the affairs of Queen Anne's county and the Eastern 



66 GOVERNORS OP MARYLAND 

Shore of Man-land. Judge Solomon Wright served his 
county in the Maryland conventions which met during the 
period from 1771 to the beginning of the Revolution, and 
was a member of the first court of appeals of the state, and 
so continued till his death. Robert Wright was bom on 
November ao, 1752. He received his preparatory training 
at such schools as his native county afforded, while the finish- 
ing touches to his academic etlucation were obtained at 
Washington College. Subsequently he studied for the bar, 
and was about to set up as an attorney in Chesterto%\Ti when 
the American colonies took up arms against the mother 
country'. He promptly joined Capt. James Kent's com- 
pany of Queen Anne's "minute men." and took part in a 
short campaign against Lord Drummond's legion of tories in 
Virginia. Subsequently he was commissioned second lieu- 
tenant in the militia, and later by resolution of congress 
was made a captain in the Continental army, in which capa- 
city he ser\'ed at Brandywine, Paoli, and other battlefields. 
That his military performances were creditable may be 
taken for granted, since the later career of the man proved 
his spirit of thinking no duty too small to be performed 
well ; but had he been dependent upon his military' exploits 
alone for fame, his name would have been honorcil by no 
greater recognition, perhaps, than that of being printed upon 
the carefully guarded and seldom read records of the Con- 
tinental forces. Although Mr. Wright was not a signal 
success as a military leader, he had coursing through his 
veins that old spirit of militarism which fostered the duello. 
On one occasion he had a disagreement with Edward Lloyd, 
who in after years became prominent as a legislator and was 
elected as Wright's successor in the gubernatorial office. 
The disagreement led to a challenge. In the tluci which fol- 
lowed, neither principal, fortunately, was fatally wounded, 
but Mr. Wright for some time thereafter limped in public 
and in private nursed a bullet hole in his toe. 



ROBERT WRIGHT 67 

Governor Wright began his political career early in the 
eighties. About this time he was married to Miss Sarah 
DeCourcy, the daughter of Col. William De Courcy, a man of 
prominence in colonial days. From the close of the Revolu- 
tion up to the first year of the nineteenth century Mr. Wright 
was several times called upon to serve his county in the general 
assembly. In accordance with the required qualifications 
of candidates for the legislature he was presented by his 
father with 250 acres of land, which remained in his pos- 
session throughout his lifetime. This, together with some 
1750 additional acres of his landed property was skillfully 
managed by him, for he was a student of agriculture and a 
breeder of the thoroughbred horse and other animals. 

Governor Wright's services as a member of the legisla- 
ture were sufficiently meritorious to win for him a seat in 
the senate of the United States in 180 1. It was at the time 
of the republican upheaval, and Mr. Wright won office as 
one of the forerunners of the great republican party, which 
in later years was changed in name if not in principle 
and became the democratic party of the United States. 
The term for which he was elected senator was for six years, 
or from 1801 to 1807. It was, however, while serving in 
the upper house of the national legislature that he was chosen 
governor of Maryland. This was on November 10, 1806, 
and he promptly resigned his seat in the senate. 

In accepting the gubernatorial office Wright sketched 
as comprehensively as possible his stand upon great national 
issues during the years that he had been in congress. "I 
have most cordially cooperated, " he said, " with a virtuous 
administration in promoting the best interests of our com- 
mon country ; in repealing such laws as imposed odious and 
unnecessary taxes on our fellow-citizens; in restoring the 
national judiciary to the state it had obtained in the time 
of our Washington; in the purchase of Louisiana, and there- 



68 GOVERNORS OF MARYLAND 

fore extending to our western brethren the great advan- 
tages of the important port of Orleans, and the navigation 
of the Missouri, ^^ith all its tributary streams; in the meas- 
ures adopted to acquire the Floridas that the American 
empire might be consolidated and a risk of collisions with a 
colony of Spain avoided ; in the cultivation of the arts of 
peace with all our foreign relations, with temper and gooti 
faith; in an honest neutrality with all the belligerent powers, 
and in an exact discharge of every duty imposed on us by 
existing treaties or by the law of nations, and in the laudable 
attention that has been paid to our native brethren, the 
savage tribes, in instructing them in the culture of the soil 
and domestic manufactures, and thereby inducing them to 
convert their scalping knives into pruning hooks and their 
tomahawks into implements of husbandry, and both by 
precepts and examples teaching them to prefer the pacific 
olive to the bloody laurel. " 

The affairs of the state executive department were di- 
rected by Governor Wright for almost three years. He was 
elected in November, 1806, and reelected in 1807 and 1808. 
During this period the most important task performed by 
the executive office was the preparation of the state for the 
conflict with England, which was then threatened. The 
governor stood firmly by the administration of President 
Jefferson, and when the founder of democracy declined to 
become a candidate for a third term Governor Wright, 
with other followers of the president, sought to influence 
him to reconsider the matter. During the third year of 
Governor Wright's administration a judicial post that he 
had long coveted became vacant, and in the hope of being 
elected judge he resigned the governorship. Early in May, 
1807, James Butcher issued a proclamation as acting gov- 
ernor, in which announcement was made of the resignation 
of Mr. Wright on May 6, and a session of the legislature was 



ROBERT WRIGHT 69 

called for the election of a successor. Governor Wright 
was entitled to serve until November of the year in which 
he resigned, but realizing that he would then be ineligible 
for reelection, and hoping to obtain the desired judgeship, 
he let go the bird in hand for the two in the bush. But 
the latter were not captured then, though many years later 
Mr. Wright was appointed an associate judge in the dis- 
trict of which his friends had hoped to make him chief 
judge. 

In 1 8 ID Mr. Wright was elected to congress, this time 
serving in the lower house, where he continued until March 
3, 181 7. He was again elected in 1820, to the house of rep- 
resentatives and served for one term of two years. It was 
then that he finally gained an appointment as judge of the 
district court for the second judicial district of Maryland, 
which gave him jurisdiction over Cecil, Kent, Queen Anne's 
and Talbot counties. In this position he continued until 
his death. Governor Wright was married twice, the second 
Mrs. Wright having been a Miss Ringgold, of Kent county, 
by whom he had one child, who was named after Lafayette. 
Governor Wright died at Blakeford, on September 7, 1826, 
and was buried at Chestor-on-Wye, a homestead of the 
De Courcy family from different branches of which came 
respectively his paternal grandmother and his first wife. 



XIII 

EDWARD LLOYD 

For the first thirty years of Mar>iand's statehood the 
executive mansion was filled by citizens who had \^^tnessed 
the American colonies' struggle for independence. These 
governors had nearly all taken some part in the Revolution. 
Such men as Johnson, Paca and Lee, had not only followed 
the rupture between the mother country and the colonies 
from its beginning, but had also taken part many years be- 
fore the Revolution, in those contests which presaged serious 
trouble for England should she persist in ignoring the rights 
of the colonies. Of course not all of the state governors 
during these first thirty years had played as large a part in 
Maryland's last years as a colony as did Johnson, Paca and 
Lee, but their lives extended well back into colonial times, 
and they had come to be looked upon by the people as char- 
ter members of the commonwealth of Maryland. For this 
reason when the reader turns from the administration of 
Robert Wright to that of his successor he feels that he has 
advanced well into the life of the American Republic, and 
that Maryland in 1809 was no longer in its infancy as a 
state. Mr. Lloyd, who followed Governor Wright in office, 
was not a Revolutionary character, for it was not until 
well into the struggle that he was bom. He is, therefore, 
the initial member of a new class in the gallery of Mar>'- 
land governors. 

Edward Lloyd — the fifth of that name in Maryland his- 
tory — was bom at Wye House. Talbot county, July 22, 
1779. At that time the American Revolution had entered 
upon its fourth year, while the state government of Mary- 




EDWARD LLOYD 
1809-181 I 




COPYRfGHT. 1908, BY H. E. BUCHHOLZ. 



EDWARD LLOYD 7I 

land had been in existence for almost as many years and 
Governor Johnson was bringing to a close the first admin- 
istration. Although the ancestry of the average man may 
not be of as much importance as the genealogically inclined 
would make believe, the family connection of Governor 
Lloyd is of considerable moment in a study of his public 
career, since it was, perhaps, due more to the family that he 
represented than to himself that he was so early in life 
afforded an opportunity to enter the public service. The 
father of the governor had been active in Maryland affairs 
during the years preceding the War of Independence, and 
was a member of the body which framed for the state its 
first constitution. The Lloyds were typical of the old 
southern landed families which during colonial and early 
state years exerted almost dictatorial authority in the state. 
The family in intellectual equipment was far above the 
average and in addition was possessed of the means which 
gave it, in the regard of the less fortunate citizens, the right 
to direct. 

Edward Lloyd — the governor — was given such early 
training as could be provided for the sons of the better class 
of Marylanders. He went to a private school and studied 
under tutors until he had acquired sufficient knowledge to 
begin his public career. The real training of the man, 
however, was gained not at school nor from books, but by 
coming in contact with thinking men and in pondering over 
questions of public import. Mr. Lloyd was practically 
reared in public life. He was sent as a delegate to the state 
legislature in 1800. At that time he was just twenty-one 
years of age, or barely within the borders of the constitutional 
requirements. He served in the house of delegates from 
1800 to 1805, and during that period his labors developed 
his talents and widened his popularity in his own section. 
His supporters determined to enlarge the scope of his ser- 



7a GOVERNORS OP MARYLAND 

vices and he was elected a member of the house of repre- 
sentatives to fill the unexpired term of Joseph Hopper 
Nicholson, who had resigned upon being appointed judge 
of the Mar>'land courts of appeals. Mr. Lloyd's ser\'ices in 
the lower house of the national legislature began in 1806 in 
the ninth congress. He was reelected a member of the 
tenth congress, but his congressional career was brought 
to a close by his election as the successor of Governor Wright, 
who had resigned the governorship in the hope of being 
elected chief district judge of Maryland. Governor Wright, 
gave up his oflfice in May, 1809. and the general assembly, 
which was convened in extra session to choose a new execu- 
tive, elected Mr. Lloyd governor on Monday, June 5, 1809. 
The election was for the unexpired portion of Governor 
Wright's term — to November, 1809. And Mr. Lloyd was 
twice reelected for one year terms in November, 1809, and 
November, 1810. 

His occupancy of the gubernatorial office witnessed the 
repeal of the embargo act, which had been passed while 
Governor Lloyd was a member of congress. During his 
administration a notable victory was scored for republican- 
ism. This triumph was the granting of the elective fran- 
chise to the people regardless of the question whether or not 
they were possessed of real estate or personal property to a 
considerable extent. The free ballot act, which repealed 
all property qualifications, was confirmed by an act of 1809 
— the first year in which Mr. Lloyd was executive of the 
state. During Governor Lloyd's administration the two 
leading political parties seem to have been fairly well 
divided in Maryland. The balance of power — although the 
republicans had for some time controlled the gubernatorial 
office — did not seem to remain long with either party, and 
it was around the beginning of the second decade of the 
nineteenth century that the federalists regained direction 



EDWARD LLOYD 73 

of the state machinery and held it for several years. At 
almost the same time that Mr. Lloyd, a strong republican, 
was chosen as the successor of Governor Wright, Levin 
Winder, who subsequently became the federalists' governor 
of Maryland, was elected speaker of the house of delegates. 
This difference in sentiment between the legislative body 
and the executive department upon the leading question 
of the day suggests in a measure how far from harmonious 
were the public affairs of Maryland during the years that 
Governors Lloyd and Bowie were in office. 

At the close of Mr. Lloyd's governorship he was elected 
a member of the state senate. In that body he heartily 
supported the administration of President Madison, and 
was bitter in his opposition of all measures conciliatory 
toward England. He was a presidential elector in the cam- 
paign of 181 2, and cast his vote for James Madison for a 
second term. The republicans, after having been out of 
power for several years in Maryland, were able to resume 
control of affairs toward the close of the second decade of 
the nineteenth century. One of their first moves was the 
election of Edward Lloyd as a member from Maryland to 
the United States senate. Mr. Lloyd was elected in 1818 
for a term of six years, and at the close of this term, or in 
1824, he was reelected for a like period. This would have 
carried his services in the senate over from 18 19, when his 
term began, until 183 1. In 1826, however, he resigned his 
seat and retired to private life. But in the same year he 
was elected to the state senate and served in that body from 
1826 to 1 83 1, part of the time as president. He died at 
Annapolis on June 2, 1834, in the fifty-sixth year of his age. 
He was, according to the Baltimore Patriot "as remark- 
able for the munificence of his private hospitality as for his 
public spirit. " 

In his home life Governor Lloyd was the typical Mary- 



74 GOVERNORS OP MARYLAND 

land gentleman. He had been married on November 30, 
1797 — when just eighteen years of age — to Miss Sally 
Scott Murray, daughter of an Annapolis physician, and 
with advancing years the home circle was enlarged, for 
Mrs. Lloyd bore her husband a large and distinguished 
family. In his native district Mr. Lloyd was held in 
high esteem by his neighbors, and he lived, amid luxurious 
surroundings, the life of a manor lord. And yet of his whole 
life the most noteworthy feature, perhaps, is that, despite 
his birth and wealth, he was ever severely democratic. 
Republicanism in those days threatened to mean a curtail- 
ment of the power of the gentleman of the manor, neverthe- 
less this interesting representative of one of Maryland's 
most celebrated families stood firmly for the republican 
party and its creed of equal voice in the government to rich 
and poor, landed and unlanded. 



XIV 

LEVIN WINDER 

American patriotism — and ignorance — for long decreed 
that no man ought even to intimate that the constitution of 
the United States possessed as much as one Httle flaw. To 
its authors was generally given credit for having produced 
a perfect governmental document. With all due respect, 
however, to fastidious patriots and early American states- 
men, it must be confessed that the constitution at first 
possessed very little of the strength which subsequent events 
and the American character have given it. Between the 
lines of the document have been written, by a hundred and 
some years of national growth, decidedly more than is to 
be found in the lines themselves. When first the consti- 
tution was submitted to the several states, Luther Martin 
gave all his ability and his energy in a mighty effort to 
defeat the attempt to have Maryland ratify it. He saw 
the weak points of the instrument, and warned Marylanders 
that under its authority the central government would be 
able to discriminate against the weaker commonwealths in 
favor of the stronger ones. But the people heeded not, and 
the constitution was ratified. During the second war with 
England, however, Maryland suddenly became convinced 
of the truth of her former attorney-general's words. 

The national administration in 1812 was republican; 
Maryland, however, was in a rather uncertain mind, the 
republicans and federalists being almost equally strong. 
The determiner of political control in Maryland was a riot 
in Baltimore in 181 2, in which the republicans, who had 
taken offense at an anti-war editorial in a federalist paper, 



70 GOVERNORS OK MARYLAND 

attacked the paper's editor and engage<i in battle with some 
of his federalist friends, killing a few and wounding others. 
This riot proved a boomerang. The federalists regained 
control of the state machinery because of disapproval, out- 
side of Baltimore, of the republicans' violence, and the 
federal government, displeased with the turn of affairs in 
Maryland, ignored the demands of the state for the general 
government's assistance in defending American soil against 
the invasion of America's common enemy. Both the Mar>'- 
land federalists, who had opposed the war, and the Mary- 
land republicans, who had advocated it, were forced to 
bear the burden of the nation's war, as far as Maryland was 
concerned, without any aid from the central government. 
The historical index to the change of affairs in Maryland 
which was to result in the national government's unjust 
treatment of the commonwealth is found in the election of 
a successor to Gov. Robert Bowie, whose second admin- 
istration in Maryland e.xtended from 1811 to 181 2 and wit- 
nessed the beginning of hostilities with England. The elec- 
tion of Mr. Winder, who succeeded Governor Boune, was 
the "political disobedience" referred to in the declaration 
of the federalists of 181 2-1814, who, after soliciting in 
vain the national government's aid when Maryland was 
subjected to attacks by the English, cried: "Virginia has 
but to ask and she receives; but Maryland, for her political 
disobedience, is denied. " 

Levin Winder was bom in Somerset county on Septem- 
ber 4, 1757, the son of William and Esther (Gillis) Winder. 
He was destined by his parents for the legal profession, and 
immediately after the completion of his academic training 
began reading law. In common with many candidates for 
the legal profession, however, the youth, when the Revo- 
lutionary War began, forsook the dusty tomes of his legal 
library and joined the army. He was appointed, January 



LEVIN WINDER 77 

14, 1776, first lieutenant in the forces under Colonel Small- 
wood. A little more than a year later, having seen various 
services, he was promoted to the rank of major and at the 
end of the conflict held the rank of lieutenant-colonel. 
With the return to their native sections of the host of law- 
yers, who for a season had forsaken their profession for the 
glory of war, the country seemed overrun with attorneys 
and counselors. It may have been this excess that prompted 
Mr. Winder to look to agriculture for an occupation in pref- 
erence to the profession for which he had been trained. 
At all events, he became a planter on a large scale on his 
estate near Princess Anne. 

The attractions of the plantation were not strong enough, 
however, to hold his thoughts from the life for which he had 
been fitted both by natural endowment and training. It 
was, therefore, not long before Mr. Winder appeared as a 
candidate for the legislature, and he was several times elected 
by his county as a member of the general assembly. While 
Governor Lloyd — who administered state affairs from 1809 
to 181 1 — was in office, representing the choice of the repub- 
licans, Mr. Winder, a federalist, was chosen speaker of the 
house of delegates, thus indicating the close division of 
political influence in Maryland. Ex-Governor Bowie was 
reelected governor in the fall of 181 1, and his administra- 
tion extended through the opening months of the War of 
1 81 2-1 81 5. These months were marked by the Baltimore 
riot, and when the time for the next election of members to 
the Maryland general assembly arrived the federalists 
lost no opportunity to impress upon the people the fact that 
all republicans were ruffians and murderers — witness the 
Baltimore riots — ^and therefore not safe people to be in- 
trusted with public offices. This, however, was not the 
only source of strength to the federal party in Maryland in 
181 2. The counties and Baltimore were not in agreement 



78 GOVERNORS op MAio i \vn 

regarding the amount of intluciuc wluch the latter should 
be permitted to exert upon the administration of state 
aflairs. The counties had begun to feel some apprehensions 
lest the city of Baltimore succeed ultimately in gaining 
complete control of the state machinery, and it was, per- 
haps, as much because of the countians' distrust of Balti- 
more as of their displeasure with the republican rioters that 
the federalist forces turned out in full force in the legisla- 
tive election of 181 2. The house of delegates was naturally 
more sensitive to popular sentiment than the upper branch 
of the legislature, and by the elections of 181 2 it was made 
strongly federalist. The senate continued republican, 
but it did not control sufficient ballots to overcome the 
strength of the lower house. After the legislature was 
organized, in the fall of 181 2, it balloted for a successor to 
Governor Bowie. Mr. Winder received 52 votes, as against 
29 for the incumbent, and the former was declared elected. 
Governor Winder began his administration while the 
United States was at war with England. He and the party 
which he represented had been and still were opposed to the 
conflict. This state of affairs under ordinary circumstances 
would doubtless have led to a lack of harmony between the 
federal government and that of the commonwealth, but 
Mr. Winder's governorship witnessed extraordinary cir- 
cumstances. The central government had been chagrined 
at the turn which political affairs had taken in Maryland, 
and, partly because of curtailed resources and partly be- 
cause of resentment, it ignored Maryland's claim to be 
accorded protection from the invasion of a common enemy. 
The fact remains that Mr. Winder, an anti-war governor, 
inaugurated during the conflict. rendcrc<l herculean services 
(m behalf of a defensive war. When he learned that the 
national government would not give Maryland the requested 
aid, he called together the legislature in extra session and 



LEVIN WINDER 79 

asked that it take such action as would place in his hands 
the means of securing the defense of the state. The legis- 
lature appropriated sufficient funds to defray expenses 
already incurred and to provide for subsequent military 
operations. Both Baltimore and Annapolis were, in con- 
sequence, garrisoned at the expense of Maryland. 

While the governor was struggling with the means at 
hand to afford Maryland ample protection, the time for 
another gubernatorial election arrived. There was a con- 
test in the election of the members from Allegany county, 
and when the vote was taken for governor a number of the 
legislators, because of what they held to be an unjust ruling 
on the part of the federalists, refused to vote. The repub- 
licans had made repeated attempts to organize the house 
before the Allegany delegates could be admitted, but their 
maneuvering was futile, and they were defeated at each fresh 
move to gain their point. A vote was taken for governor, 
and Mr. Winder was declared reelected, despite the pro- 
tests of his political opponents and many assertions to the 
effect that his supporters had pursued dishonest methods. 

The second year of Governor Winder's administration 
was marked with the glorious repulsion of the English when 
they sought to take Baltimore captive. The British had 
made an invasion of the national capital, and before 
their advance the Americans fled, leaving the city ripe 
for the enemy's torch. When the British turned from 
the burnt national capital toward Baltimore a few faint- 
hearted citizens suggested capitulation. But the major 
portion of the Marylanders, who had been judged unworthy 
by the government of its protection, scornfully put aside the 
suggestion of doing aught but meeting the approaching 
enemy half way. The story of this meeting — one of the 
most inspiring and heroic to be found in the pages of Ameri- 
can history — must forever stand as a reproof of the attitude 



8o GOVERNORS OK MAKYIAND 

of the central government, and as the brightest spot in 
Governor Winder's administration. And he, although he 
was unconditionally opposed to the conflict, deserves a 
large share of the glory of Maryland'svictoryat North Point 
and Fort Mc Henry. 

Levin Winder was again reelected in 1814, receiving 48 
votes as against 24 for ex-Governor Bowie. At the con- 
clusion of his third term, in 1815, he retired to his farm. A 
year later, however, he was elected a member of the state 
senate. He died on July i, 18 19, leaving a widow who was 
formerly Miss Mary Sloss, and three children. 

Hardly secondary to Winder's claim to fame because of 
his administration of state affairs are his relations with the 
Masonic order. Always active in the interests of this influ- 
ential secret order, he filled the office of grand master of 
Masons in 1814 and 181 5. His name occupies a position of 
large importance in the story of this organization in Amer- 
ica, and much of its early success was the result of his faith- 
ful and untiring labors in its behalf. 




co^fmo 



CHARLl-S (A 



IDGELY 



XV 

CHARLES CARNAN RIDGELY 

Viewed retrospectively, the second war with England 
seems to have been a necessary preliminary to the United 
States' growth into a great nation. The Revolution won 
America's freedom, but the federation of states to which it 
gave birth was not one to inspire reverence at home, much 
less abroad. The world powers were not disposed to accept 
as a full-fledged nation the lately freed colonies; it re- 
quired some feat of arms to convince the European govern- 
ments that the Americans were a powerful people ; and this 
second war with England afforded the opportunity for the 
feat. After the conflict was over, the individual states 
were in a much better position to go ahead with internal 
improvements, and thus it is that there dates from the close 
of the war of 1812-15 a period of considerable progress in 
most of the American commonwealths. But the fact remains 
that the administratipn in Maryland which witnessed the 
people's turning from a successful war to the matter of inter- 
nal improvement was federalistic in complexion, and the 
federalists had been passionate opponents of the war. 
Owing to a strictly local turn of affairs in Maryland, 
which brought the republicans into disrepute because of 
their connection with the Baltimore riot, the federalist party 
was given control of the state machinery during the war 
by the administration of Governor Winder, and also during 
the first period of recuperation and internal improvement 
by the administration of Governor Ridgely. 

Charles Carnan Ridgely had not always been known by 
that name. In his early youth he was called Charles Ridgely 



8a GOVERNORS OP MARYLAND 

Caman, being the son of John and Acsah (Ridgely) Caman. 
He was bom in Baltimore county on December 6, 1 760, and 
grew up to manhood under the name of Caman. The death 
of his father while the boy was still in infancy put upon his 
mother's shoulders the responsibility of providing for his 
education. Although he learned the necessity of shifting 
much for himself, as is usual with fatherless boys, he 
received a fair education, and the loss of his father was partly 
made up by the affection entertained for the lad by his 
uncle. Captain Charles Ridgely. Captain Ridgely was a 
man of large means, and his wealth was freely employed in 
later years for the political advancement of his nephew. 
While still known by the name of Charles Caman, the gov- 
ernor had been married, October 17, 1782, to Miss Priscilla 
Dorsey, of Howard county, and the young couple spent 
much time under the roof of Captain Ridgely. Shortly after 
Carnan had attained his majority he made his appearance 
in the political world. He served as one of his county's 
representatives in the lower house of the legislature from 
1790 to 1795. and also rounded out five years in the state 
senate (1796-1800). He took some interest in military 
affairs — being influenced, perhaps, by his uncle, who knew 
and loved the smell of powder — and by gradual promotion 
reached, in 1794. the rank of brigadier-general of the 
Eleventh Maryland Brigade. 

Prior to this, arrangements had been made whereby such 
fame as might be won by the son of John Caman should 
rebound to the glory of the Ridgely family. Captain Charles 
Ridgely was childless, but he was not content that his family 
name should fall into disuse as soon as he made his exit from 
this world. He, therefore, offered to name his nephew as his 
chief heir provided the promising relative would adopt his 
name also. The beautiful Ridgely estate of Hampton and a 
large part of the fortune which Captain Ridgely had acquired 



CHARLES CARNAN RIDGELY 83 

were to be bequeathed to Mr. Carnan upon the condition 
that henceforth he be known as Ridgely. The condition 
was accepted, and upon the death of his uncle, in 1790, Mr. 
Carnan became, by special act of the legislature, Charles 
Caman Ridgely, and thus he is known to history. An 
interesting feature of the relationship of Captain Ridgely 
and his nephew is the additional tie between them which 
resulted from their marriages. The master of Hampton 
was wedded to Miss Rebecca Dorsey; the governor chose 
for his wife Miss Priscilla Dorsey, sister to Rebecca, and 
thus he became the brother-in-law of his uncle. Mr. 
Ridgely's political activity prior to the time when he was 
elected governor had been confined to the legislative halls 
of the state and the local councils of Baltimore county. He 
had been active in political affairs as a federalist; and, as 
a large landowner and planter, he had been a strong advo- 
cate of internal improvement and the construction of ave- 
nues for transportation ; but his public services were usually 
in offices of limited responsibility. His nomination for the 
gubernatorial office was his first appearance as more than a 
strictly local politician upon the political stage of Maryland. 
Although the federalists had felt some little uneasiness 
before the meeting of the legislature, early in December, 
18 1 5, lest by some trick the republicans should gain control 
of the executive office, there were no developments to justify 
such fears. The election for governor was close, but the 
federalists had a small majority and elected Mr. Ridgely over 
ex-governor Bowie, the republicans' nominee. Governor 
Ridgely's years in office were, in a measure, witnesses of an 
awakening of Maryland and other states to a realization of 
the Union's larger possibilities. From the close of the war 
the states on the Atlantic seacoast began to devote their 
energies to the development of their resources to a much 
larger degree than they had done theretofore. The subject 



84 GOVERNORS OK MARYLAND 

of internal improvement was not a new one, but now the 
American states found themselves better prepared to give 
their undivided attention to the needs of their res|>ective 
sections. The people — freed for a time from the danger of 
further molestation by foreign countries — came to appre- 
ciate the fact that they were capable of becoming much 
more than merely a series of independent states joined into 
one federation; they recognized the fact that the govern- 
ment which the several commonwealths formed might 
assume a position of importance in the family of great 
nations. 

Soon after Mr. Ridgely's induction into the gubernatorial 
office he suggested to the legislature that the central govern- 
ment be called upon to reimburse Maryland for the expense 
to which she had been put during the war of 1812-15 by 
reason of the national administration's failure to provide 
adequate protection to the property of Man'landers. The 
legislature accordingly authorized the governor to appoint 
someone to treat with the federal government regarding 
the state's claims, and Congressman Robert H. Golds- 
borough, who was commissioned to perform this task, 
devoted much of his time endeavoring to obtain for Mary- 
land a settlement. Though his efforts were not altogether 
successful, nevertheless the state did receive from the 
national treasury at least a part of the amount which she 
had spent during the war. 

During Governor Ridgely's administration the state 
turned over to the national government two forts — Fort 
McHenr}'. which had played an important part in the late 
conflict, and Fort Washington. About this time was brought 
up the question of readjusting the legislative divisions of 
the state, so that every section would have an equitable 
representation in the general assembly. This matter of 
disproportionate representation, although it was somewhat 



CHARLES CARNAN RIDGELY 8$ 

warmly discussed during Governor Ridgely's administration, 
was not finally settled until after he had relinquished the 
gubernatorial office. Ridgely was reelected governor in 
1816 and again in 1817, thus giving him the full three years 
in office that were permitted by the constitution. Politi- 
cally the state remained unsettled throughout this period, 
and it was a difficult task for the federalists to hold suffi- 
cient votes in the legislature to continue to fill the execu- 
tive mansion. The feature which favored them was the 
law by which state senators were elected for five years, 
thus requiring a very considerable lapse of time before the 
people could change the political complexion of the upper 
house. In 1 818, Governor Ridgely was succeeded by another 
federalist, Charles Goldsborough. 

At the close of his administration Mr. Ridgely retired to 
Hampton, where he devoted himself to the task of look- 
ing after his property. At home he represented the typical 
aristocrat of his day. He had the fortune that enabled 
him to live like a prince, and he also had the inclination. 
Hampton was cultivated by hundreds of slaves of whom 
Mr. Ridgely was absolute master; although the governor 
by his will manumitted these serfs. Some idea of the 
extent of his plantation and the manner of its cultivation 
may be obtained from the fact that when, on July 17, 1829, 
Charles Carnan Ridgely died, there were freed more than 
400 negoes who had been his personal property. 



XVI 

CHARLES GOLDSBOROUGH 

By grace of fate, rather than by the wish of the people, 
the federal party was permitted to continue in control of 
Maryland's aflfairs some time after it had fallen under the 
disapprobation of the voters elsewhere in America. An 
unjust election law, which may have been good enough in 
the beginning but became evil with advancing years, fav- 
ored the federal party in retaining its power in Maryland, 
despite the fact that its opponents were in the majority. 
There were in Maryland at this time twelve counties that 
were federal in political complexion. These counties boasted a 
total population of 131,165 white inhabitants, and paid the 
state upon direct tax $68,404. The democratic portion of 
the state comprised seven counties which supported a 
free white population of 140.209 and contributed in taxes 
the sum of $83,222. And yet, the twelve counties which 
contributed 45.1 per cent of the state taxes and contained 
48.3 per cent of the free white inhabitants were given, under 
the unjust scale of representation, 60 per cent of the total 
membership in the lower house of the general asserribly, 
while every attempt to equalize the representation of the 
several counties according to population was fought tooth 
and nail by the federalists. 

Instead of pursuing a peaceable policy, and thus neu- 
tralizing in part the antagonism which existed against 
it. the leaders carried the party arrogantly to the place 
where it was to meet destruction. Even Mr. Goldsborough, 
who was called upon to succeed Mr. Ridgely in the execu- 
tive (iflu o. did not fully appreciate the needs of his peculiar 




CHARLES GOLDSBOROUGH 
1819 




COPYRIGHT. 1908, BY H. E. BUCHHOLZ. 



CHARLES GOLDSBOROUGH 87 

situation, and performed his duties in much the same 
spirit that he had pursued in the national legislature. 
In consequence there came not only concerted opposi- 
tion to the prevailing method of allotting representation 
in the general assembly, but what meant even greater 
injury to the federal party — a demand that the governor 
of Maryland henceforth be elected by popular vote instead 
of by the legislature. To give the people — the common 
people — a direct voice in the election of governor meant 
certain death to the federalist party, and Mr. Goldsborough's 
brief administration as governor was responsible for the 
first concerted demand from the democrats that the state 
executive be chosen by the people upon their direct vote. 
Charles Goldsborough was born at Hunting Creek on 
July 15, 1760. His early years were such as to incline him 
toward the federal party when that body should become 
opposed to republicanism. His father, Charles Goldsbor- 
ough, St., and his mother, who before her marriage had been 
Miss Anna Maria Tilghman, were both of gentle birth, and 
their son was bred in an atmosphere which nourished the 
belief that the landed families — among them the Golds- 
boroughs — were very superior to the general run of mankind, 
and that a man who had not been born in a family of high 
social position must necessarily be void of those qualities 
which work for wise self-government. After Goldsborough 
had received his preparatory schooling in the immediate 
neighborhood, he entered the University of Pennsylvania, 
from which, in 1784, he received the degree of bachelor of 
arts. Three years later the master's degree was conferred 
upon him. On September 22, 1793, he married Miss Eliza- 
beth Goldsborough of Myrtle Grove, Talbot county. His 
wife was the daughter of Judge Robert and Mary Emerson 
(Trippe) Goldsborough. She died, leaving two daughters, 
and her widower married on May 22, 1804, Miss Sarah Yer- 
bury Goldsborough of Horn's Point. 



88 <U^yyt^S0RS OP MARYLAND 

Up to the tijue of his second marriage. Governor Golds- 
borough was in a formative stage politically. He was 
acquiring the sentiments and the prejudices which in later 
days became the stock in trade of the federal party. Active 
in political affairs generally, he. nevertheless, did not win 
prominence until later years. He had reached the age of forty 
when he became his party's candidate for congress. The 
federal party at that time was in an uncertain state in Mary- 
land. The republicans had wrested control of the execu- 
tive mansion, and they were accomplishing large results 
throughout the state. In Mr. Goldsborough's home dis- 
trict, however, the federalists had a stronghold, and their 
candidate for the lower house of the national legislature was 
elected. 

Mr. Goldsborough began his congressional career on 
December 2, 1805, and served his district without interrup- 
tion thereafter until March 3, 1817. During these years 
the bitter opposition of the federalists to the republicans — 
or democrats — developed, and Congressman Goldsborough, 
as a champion of his party, was in the thick of the warfare. 
His terms in the lower house of congress witnessed the 
beginning of the battle between the war party and the anti- 
war party; they witnessed the second conflict with Eng- 
land, and they ^\^tnessed the closing days of the federal 
party, when that organization had lost its control in most 
states of the Union and was on the decline in Maryland also. 

As was to be expected, in course of years Mr. Golds- 
borough cultivated a spirit of combativeness, which was 
necessary in carrying on the struggle for the sustaining 
of his party. But this training, while advantageous to one 
in the legislative hall, was not a valuable asset to the man 
called upon by a somewhat discretlitcd party to become its 
representative in the executive mansion at Annapolis. 
After the completion of Governor Ridgely's administration, 



CHARLES GOLDSBOROUGH 89 

the federalists in the general assembly elected Charles Golds- 
borough as his successor. Early in his governorship a bill 
was presented in the legislature to increase the representa- 
tion of Baltimore in the house of delegates from two mem- 
bers to four. By the manner of its opposition to this prop- 
osition the federal party made a serious blunder. Later 
there came a suggestion to confer the franchise upon Jews, 
and again the federalists through a false conception of self- 
preservation blundered into opposing the measure. This 
shortsightedness of the federalistic leaders during Mr. 
Goldsborough's administration was such as must work to 
the injury of the party's position in the state. One humane 
(accomplishment, however, stands to the credit of the legis- 
lature during Governor Goldsborough's term in office, and 
that is the repeal of the law which countenanced imprison- 
ment for debt. 

It is possible that Governor Goldsborough and his advis- 
ers had hoped to hold on to the gubernatorial office because 
of the federalist complexion of the state senate. By the 
generally arrogant conduct of the federal party during 1818 
and 18 1 9, however, the people had become sufficiently dis- 
satisfied to rise in their might in the fall of 1819 to destroy 
completely the power of federalism in Maryland. The 
election took place on October 4 and was marked by excite- 
ment and bitterness. Each party accused the other of dis- 
honesty and bribery; and judging from the evidence, the 
truth of the whole affair doubtless is that both federalists 
and republicans bribed and received bribes, repeated and 
harbored repeaters, lied and sustained liars — in other words, 
that they set a very poor example, as far as pure politics are 
concerned, for their descendants. And, on December 16, 
1 81 9, when the general assembly met in joint session and 
began to transact its official business, it was found that the 
republicans had a majority of the members and Governor 



90 GOVERNORS OP MARYLAND 

Goldsborough's public services were brought to a close, 
Samuel Sprigg being elected his successor. Upon his retire- 
ment from the executive mansion Mr. Goldsborough returned 
to his Eastern Shore plantation, where he passed the remain- 
ing years of his life His death occurred on December 13. 
1834, at Shoal Creek, near Cambridge. 



SAM i SPRIGG 



XVII 

SAMUEL SPRIGG 

In 1819 the Maryland republicans, who had been more 
or less in retirement after the beginning of the second war 
with England, succeeded in regaining control of the state 
government. No sooner had the election of a republican 
governor been announced, than the federal leaders and the 
newspapers supporting the federal party devoted much 
time to listing all the evils that would result from the repub- 
lican victory. The republicans, in a measure, exceeded the 
most direful predictions of their opponents ; for from one 
end of the state to the other federalist office-holders were 
removed to make way for republicans. This liberality 
in patronage was almost sure to lead to a reaction against 
the party lately come into power — but it was not quite sure. 
Truth is, that the republicans had chosen as governor — and 
therefore, in a way, the distributer of the party's patron- 
age — a man who was exceptionally well fitted for the pecu- 
liar and exacting position. Most men would have given 
offense; would have caused fresh wounds or paved the way 
for their party's later defeat. But Mr. Sprigg, strict parti- 
san that he was, managed to be conciliatory in the adminis- 
tration of state affairs; he bound up the old wounds which 
had long kept the people restless, and prepared the way for 
his party to make more secure its position in the common- 
wealth. 

Samuel Sprigg was probably born in Prince George's 
county, although authentic data concerning his early years 
are not plentiful. His father, Joseph Sprigg, was several 
times married. His first wife, whom he married in 1760, 



pa GOVERNORS OP MARYLAND 

was Mrs. Hannah Lee Bowie. He subsequently married a 
second time, and it is possible he took to himself also a 
third vnfe; of either the second or third marriage came 
Samuel, who was probably the son of Margaret Elzey 
(Weems) Sprigg. The boy was but one in a large family, 
for each of the wives of Mr. Sprigg had brought to him as 
dower a family of children, and therefore it is not strange 
that his advent was regarded as a somewhat commonplace 
occurrence. As a consequence, it is necessary to speculate 
as to the date of his birth; but it probably occurred 1782-83. 
The youth of Mr. Sprigg is also veiled in obscurity, and 
it is not known how much opportunity was given him for 
acquiring an education. The elder Mr. Sprigg died in 1800, 
and his death must have disrupted the family circle, for 
Samuel was adopted by his uncle, Mr. Osbom Sprigg, from 
whom he inherited the Prince George's county estate of 
Northampton. 

Samuel Sprigg reached maturity about the time when the 
federal party was waging its bitterest warfare upon the 
republicans. This was a struggle between the believers in 
aristocracy and the advocates of democracy, and in a con- 
test of this kind it is no wonder that Mr. Sprigg should have 
cast his lot with the republicans. He was well-bom, and 
the federal party would doubtless have taken him up gladly, 
but it would scarcely have been willing to advance him to 
high position when it had so many supporters, better- 
known than he, who were anxious to serve the state with 
glory to themselves. The republican party, however, was 
hungry for young men who could be roused to passion ; for 
its doctrines sounded best when expounded in passion; it 
needed able men from the mass of the people, for its creed 
was based upon democracy; and it needed men of daring, 
for those who took part in the strife could hope for no suc- 
c ess unless they fought courageously. Mr. Sprigg possessed 
all of these requirements. He was young, with the world all 



SAMUEL SPRIGG 93 

before him. He was of the people and had his little family 
to provide for, having been married on January i, 181 1, 
to Miss Violetta Lansdale, daughter of Thomas Lancaster and 
Cornelia (Von Home) Landsaleby whom he had two children. 
Mr. Sprigg was elected governor by the general assembly 
on December 13, 1819, his opponent being Charles Golds- 
borough, who was then serving as governor of the state. The 
fact that up to this time he had won no considerable fame 
is not a matter for surprise. He not only was young when 
chosen to the gubernatorial ofhce, but up to the time of his 
election his party had been very much in forced retire- 
ment throughout the state. One phase of the adminis- 
tration that was thus inaugurated has already been hinted 
at in the reference to the dismissal of ofhceholders who 
were federalists and the putting into their places of repub- 
licans. Although this change did not cause the discon- 
tent that might have been anticipated from it, there 
were other features to Governor Sprigg's administration 
that aroused feelings of much bitterness. For instance, the 
republican agitation for a revision of the constitution — • 
looking to an increase of Baltimore's representation in the 
legislature — and also that for the election of state executives 
by direct vote of the people were pointed out by the federa- 
lists as very dangerous proposals, and their call to the coun- 
ties to protect themselves against the threatened usurpa- 
tion of the cities succeeded in reducing the republican 
majority in the next legislature, although the general 
assembly was sufficiently republican to reelect Mr. Sprigg 
that year, 1820, and in 1821 he was chosen governor for a 
third term. Both of these movements — first, for giving 
Baltimore a more proportionate representation in the legis- 
lature and, second, for electing governors by popular vote 
— were efforts to bring about a more republican form of 
government; and although both were then defeated, they 
paved the way for a later victory. 



94 GOVERNORS OP MARYLAND 

In liie sphere of industr>' the administration of Mr. 
Sprigg was also somewhat notable Much attention was 
given in the first quarter of the nineteenth centur>' to the 
channels through which development was to be carried to 
the mterior. This embraced the construction of roadways 
and the digging of canals; both having as their object the 
shortening of distance between commercial cities or between 
cities and agricultural sections for the expansion of com- 
merce. Under the governorship of Mr. Sprigg the state 
^'ave financial support to the projection of the Washington 
Turnpike Company, and the enterprise that had been started 
under the Potomac Company was given new life by trans- 
ferring the rights to a new concern. A joint commission 
was appointed by Maryland and Virginia to investigate the 
manner in which the Potomac Company had fulfilled its 
promises to these commonwealths ; and upon the recommend- 
ation of this commission the Potomac Company's charter 
was cancelled, while the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal was 
the outcome of the transfer of the Potomac Company's 
privileges to a new concern. Even after the close of his 
administration, Mr. Sprigg continued a hearty advocate 
of all measures which had as their object internal improve- 
ments in Maryland, although he never again entered public 
office. He served as president of the canal board and 
labored faithfully for the construction of the waterway 
that was to mean so much to the commercial prosperity 
of the state. Governor Sprigg died April ai, 1855, at an 
advanced age. His body was interred in St. Barncbas 
churchyard, but later (1865) was removed to Oak Hill 
Cemetery, Georgetown. 




• VmOHT. laO*. BT M I aUCMMOlt. 



0^ 



SAMUI. 



I ^ . -• 1 - 







XVIII 

SAMUEL STEVENS, JR. 

An impetuous French youth of noble birth, whose blood 
ran hot with a love of liberty, fled from his native land in 
1777 to join the humble forces then fighting for freedom in 
the American colonies. Almost half a century later that 
same Frenchman, still dearly loving the cause of liberty, 
revisited the land for whose freedom he had so valiantly 
striven. There could have been no more fitting ceremony 
upon the occasion of this second visit than that the shackles 
which held the last religious bondman in the state of Mary- 
land should be broken. But not as a tribute to Lafayette 
was the political embargo against the Jews in Maryland 
raised; the concurrence of the two events was accidental. 
The coincident is not uninteresting, however, in that it shows 
how partial was the liberty afforded at the close of the Revo- 
lution, since religious discrimination in the Old Line state 
was only destroyed half a century later. The war for inde- 
pendence had been completely forgotten by this time; how 
completely is shown by a little anecdote related of a state 
official, who received Lafayette on behalf of Maryland. 
The Marylander was much confused, according to report, 
and, after assuring the distinguished Frenchman of the state's 
welcome and wishing him a pleasant sojourn in the new 
world, he asked, by way of entering upon less formal con- 
versation: "General, is this your first visit to America?" 

Samuel Stevens, Jr., in whose administration occurred 
the Lafayette visit and the enfranchisement of the Jews, 
was born in Talbot county, 1778, the son of John Stevens, 
a large landowner. Young Stevens attended the school 



96 GOVERNORS OP MAKYLAM) 

of Rev. John Bowe, but did not receive a college educa- 
tion, due to the fact that his uncle, who became his guardian 
upon the death of his father, was opposed to sending him to 
an institute of higher learning. After the close of his school 
da>'s. Mr. Stevens engaged in business for a short time in 
Philadelphia, but upon attaining his majority returned to 
his Eastern Shore home. Soon after reaching manhood, he 
became an active worker in the demcK-ratic party, and for 
a number of years, with an occasional break now and again, 
he represented his county in the lower branch of the legis- 
lature. He was married on June 2, 1804, to Miss Ehza 
May. of Chester county, Pennsylvania, and within a few 
years thereafter he made his initial appearance in the 
general assembly. Mr. Stevens was first elected a delegate 
from Talbot county in 1807. He was repeatedly reelected 
to the same office, and took part in the deUberations of 
the house in the sessions of 1808, 1809, 181 1, 1813, 1817, 
1 81 9 and 1820. In 1819 the Maryland democrats won a 
signal victory, and Mr. Sprigg was made governor. The 
hold of the democrats at the close of Governor Sprigg's 
administration was more secure than it had ever before 
been in the state, and so another representative democrat, 
Mr. Stevens, was chosen as his successor. 

By the nomination and election of Mr. Stevens more 
could be done to arouse the masses throughout the state 
and prompt them to join the democratic ranks than by the 
selection of a more radical democrat to the executive man- 
sion; and so Mr. Stevens was honored with the nomination. 
He was elected for one year in 1822. and was reelecte<l in 

1823 and 1824. Early in his administration, the report of 
a commission which had been appointed during the term 

if Governor Sprigg to report upon the Potomac Company 
was completed and submitted to the legislature. The 
investigation had shown that the Potomac Company had 



SAMUEL STEVENS, JR. 97 

not made any noticeable progress in the construction of the 
canal which it had undertaken to build with the state's 
help; and as a consequence the company's charter was 
transferred to other interests and the Chesapeake and Ohio 
Canal Company was organized. Although there was oppo- 
sition in Maryland to the canal at first, because the artificial 
waterway did not promise to benefit Baltimore, in time the 
source of this opposing attitude was removed, and the 
legislatures of Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania took 
favorable action upon the proposition to build "a water- 
way from the tidewater of the Potomac, in the District of 
Columbia, to Cumberland or the mouth of Savage Creek, 
and thence across the Alleghany Mountains to some con- 
venient point of navigation on the waters of the Ohio or 
its tributary streams. " 

The most notable accomplishment of Governor Stevens' 
administration, however, from the standpoint of politics 
was the enfranchisement of the Jews. There had been 
made prior to this time many attempts to give the Jew the 
same right to vote in Maryland that was enjoyed by citi- 
zens of other faiths. These attempts, however, had inva- 
riably met with bitter antagonism. The greatest opposition 
to the proposal came from the counties, which somewhat 
illogically opposed everything that would give Baltimore 
a larger voice in the direction of state affairs, and every 
increase in population was regarded as a threat of harm 
from this direction. The Jew, however, with his character- 
istic tenacity, continued to appeal to the state's sense of 
justice as to whether or not he should be forever barred 
from rights which were granted to every other man. A 
bill to remove the disqualification from the Jew had actually 
passed the legislature in 1822, but before it could become 
a law it was necessary that it be approved by a subsequent 
legislature. At the session of 1823 the members of the 



98 GOVERNORS OP MARYLAND 

general assembly from the counties had been too strongly 
impressed wth the countians' disfavor of the measure to 
dare approve it, and they therefore refused to vote for the 
bill. In the next session, however, that of 1824, the ques- 
tion was again brought up, as it had been in many previous 
sessions, and was finally passed, February 26, 1825. 

The administration of Mr. Stevens was brought to a close 
in 1825, after he had served the full three years permitted 
by the constitution. He was succeeded by Joseph Kent. 
Mr. Stevens continued active in the cause of Maryland 
democracy after his retirement and throughout the remain- 
ing days of his long life. He never again, however, came 
prominently in the public eye, and except for his governor- 
ship of three years his life was an uneventful one. He died 
at his home near Trappe, Maryland, in 1 860, at the advanced 
age of eighty-one. 



XIX 

JOSEPH KENT 

What is known in politics as a mugwump was once aptly 
defined as a human ferryboat, traveling from side to side, 
but never remaining long at any mooring. During the 
first years of the American republic there were lacking in 
the political world such qualities as are essential to the cul- 
tivation of men of this class, but in the years that wit- 
nessed the great disintegration of American political parties 
incident to the demise of the federal party and the forma- 
tion of new organizations, certain inducements were pre- 
sented to the shrewd honor-seeker to become a mugwump. 
There were lightning changes in the political complexion 
of many sections, and he who could anticipate these changes 
might prepare for himself a future berth with a party yet 
unborn while occupying an office under the organization to 
which at the time he acknowledged allegiance. And it 
must be confessed that in Maryland there was being devel- 
oped a very fine specimen of mugwump, who was in time 
to be honored with the office of governor — Dr. Joseph Kent. 
His political sentiment was acrobatic and took many a 
turn, but it always landed its owner upon his feet, and 
usually in office, and yet, by the feats which Mr. Kent per- 
formed, Mr. Kent was not only the gainer, but his native 
state was each time made richer. Had he lacked the abil- 
ity to read the future, had he resisted the temptation to be 
guided by his reading, Maryland would have lost much more 
than Mr. Kent ever gained. 

Joseph Kent, the son of Daniel Kent, was born in Calvert 
county January 14, 1779. He was afforded the best oppor- 



lOO GOVERNORS OP MARYLAND 

tunity in early youth to obtain a thorough education, and 
by the time he had reached the age of twenty was able to 
secure a license to practice medicine. This was in May, 1799. 
He then formed a connection with a Dr. Parran, of Lower 
Marlboro. The partnership lasted only for two years, and 
in September, 1801, Dr. Kent began to practice on his own 
account. Perhaps because the medical profession was not 
sufficiently remunerative or perhaps because the neighbors 
were too healthy to demand much of Dr. Kent's time — 
possibly because of both — the future governor determined 
to change the scene of his activity and at the same time 
take up farming. He moved to Blandersburg in 1807, 
where he was sometimes physician and sometimes farmer. 
He entered the service of the state government as surgeon's 
mate and rose steadily, becoming surgeon, major, lieutenant- 
colonel and finally colonel of cavalry. 

His versatility must have impressed Dr. Kent himself 
in early years, and it was therefore but natural that he 
should soon become convinced that his peculiar qualities 
might prove of more worth in politics than in either agri- 
culture or medicine. At all events. Dr. Kent became a can- 
didate for office in the first year of the second decade of the 
nineteenth century, and as a federalist was elected a mem- 
ber of the lower branch of congress. At the expiration of his 
term he was reelected. His servnce covered the period from 
November, 181 1, to March, 181 5. During this period the 
great evil in the eyes of federalism was the threatened sec- 
ond war with England, and Congressman Kent was a feder- 
alist. But when the time came to vote for war or against 
war, Dr. Kent, on June 18, 18x2, joined the republicans with 
a vote for war. As a prospective mugwump he acted with 
great judgment, for it was apparent that the time must 
soon come when the federal party in Maryland should go 
into decline. When the time for a presidential election 



JOSEPH KENT lOI 

came around, in 181; 6, Dr. Kent appeared as a candidate 
for elector on the republican ticket, and in the electoral col- 
lege of which he became a member he cast his vote for 
James Monroe for president. He was thus by this time a 
confirmed republican, or latter-day democrat. It was not 
long before Dr. Kent, as a democratic leader in his sec- 
tion, was being thought of and talked of as a fit man to send 
to congress. The successful termination of the war of 
181 2-1 5 had put a quietus upon the federal party generally, 
though in Maryland it held on for several years after the close 
of the conflict. Ex-Congressman Kent, however, appeared 
as a congressional candidate at the proper time, when, in 
1819, the final retirement of the federal party was taking 
place. He was elected a member of the 17th, i8th and 19th 
congresses serving from 1821 to 1826. 

While still representing Maryland in the lower house of 
the national legislature Mr. Kent was chosen governor of 
the state to succeed Samuel Stevens, Jr., and he resigned 
his seat as a congressman in the early part of 1826 and took 
up the direction of afiairs in the gubernatorial office. Many 
important though not momentous pieces of legislation were 
either endorsed or else suggested by Mr. Kent during the 
three years he was governor. He advocated a change in the 
election law by which president and vice-president of the 
United States were chosen. He suggested that the Mary- 
land legislature dispose of its holdings of United States 3 
per cent stock and put the proceeds in a sinking fund. He 
impressed upon the national government the desirability 
of Maryland securing her share of the public lands to be 
devoted to educational development. But the feature of 
his administration that stands out in greatest relief against 
the minor events is the establishment of the Baltimore and 
Ohio Railroad. Governor Kent's predecessors in office, as 
well as he himself, had been concenTed with the building of 



lOa GOVERNORS OP MARYLAND 

a canal which should connect Washington with the waters 
of the Ohio river. Since this canal could offer no special 
commercial advantage to Baltimore the people of the city 
had from the first been opposed to it unless a scheme was 
devised whereby the canal could be continued to Baltimore. 
This led to the suggestion that a connecting link be built 
between Georgetown — the Washington terminus of the pro- 
posed Chesapeake and Ohio canal — and Baltimore. Upon 
investigation such a connecting canal was found to be im- 
practicable. 

When the unfavorable report upon the proposed canal 
between Georgetown and Baltimore was made, it was deter- 
mined to build a railway between Baltimore and the Ohio, 
over which box cars loaded with freight might be hauled 
by horses and mules. Governor Kent had presided at the 
Washington meeting which, in 1823. planned the Chesa- 
peake and Ohio canal, and he was for some years a director 
in the company constructing this waterway. He now took 
an active part in the building of the Baltimore and Ohio, 
and the broad-mindedness of the man is shown in his appeal 
to the people not to oppose either project in favor of the 
other, but unth both heart and soul to sustain the rival 
movements that were to result in the Chesapeake and Ohio 
canal and the Baltimore and Ohio railroad. The meeting 
at which plans for building the Baltimore and Ohio were 
finally put into shape was held in Baltimore. Februar>' 12, 
1827. The committee appointed to perfect plans reported 
a week later that it approved of measures being taken "to 
construct a double-track railroad between the city of Bal- 
timore and some point on the Ohio river by the most eligible 
and direct route." Governor Kent. Charles Carroll of 
Carrollton and ex-Governor Ridgely were on the committee 
which petitioned the Maryland legislature for a charter for 
the proposed railroad, and the legislature within a very few 
days granted the requested privilege. 



JOSEPH KENT I03 

Governor Kent was now preparing for another change 
in political faith. His administration was brought to a 
close in 1828. About this time there began a war in the 
republican party between the Adams men and the Jackson 
faction. The party, at this time called the republican- 
democratic, was disrupted, the loyal ones becoming the 
democrats. Mr. Kent and a host of others returned to 
somewhat the principles of the old federal party and became 
known as the national republicans, who in time were to be 
the whigs. In December, 1831, the national republicans 
held a meeting in Baltimore and elected Joseph Kent vice- 
president of the organization. The ex-governor entered 
the war upon his old associates with all the vigor which he 
usually displayed, and in a very bitter contest succeeded 
in winning for himself sufficient support to be sent to the 
United States senate. He was elected for six years — from 
1833 to 1839. Before his term had expired, however, he 
died, November 24, 1837, at his residence, Rose Mount, 
near Bladensburg. He had been married twice. His first 
wife was Miss Eleanor Lee Wallace, daughter of Dr. Michael 
and Eleanor (Contee) Wallace, by whom he had five children. 
The first Mrs. Kent died in 1826. Dr. Kent's second wife was 
Miss Alice Lee Contee, of Charles county, who left no issue. 



DANIEL MAR J IN 

When new political parties are formed by a general dis- 
integration of the body politic, there is apt to prevail for at 
least a portion of the period of evolution much vagxieness 
concerning political boundary lines. Take, for example, 
the years intervening between the death of the federal and 
the birth of the whig parties, and in the presidential cam- 
paign of 1824 there appear four candidates for the presi- 
dency under the standard of the republican-democratic 
party; and the chief mark of distinction between them, as 
far as party name is concerned, is that John Quincy Adams, 
for instance, was knoNMi as an anti-Jacksonian. while Andrew 
Jackson naturally was a strictly Jackson candidate. An 
accompaniment to this groping in national politics is found 
in the local affairs of Maryland at about the same time. 
While the several dixnsions of the republican-democratic 
party were seeking for doctrines to incorporate into their 
beliefs. Maryland wavered from one to the other. The 
state would elect a legislature favorable to Adams this 
year, but the next general assembly would be radically 
Jacksonian. This constant shifting of sentiment is respon- 
sible for the piecemeal — and therefore unimpressive — 
administration of Governor Martin. He was elected to 
office and gave every promise of rendering the state good 
service; but the one- year term for which governors were 
then chosen did not afford him opportunity to put into 
practice his policies l)eff>re a Jackson governor succeeded 
him and ended his exjieriment. Within another twelve 
months, however. Mr. Martin was again elected state 



WILDERNESS 

TALBOT COUNTY HOME OF DANIEL MARTIN 

1838-1830 : 1831 




_^= 




COPYH IGI- 



90e. BY H. E. BUCHHOLZ. 



DANIEL MARTIN I05 

executive, but this time death interrupted his direction of 
Maryland's affairs, and consequently the state's history 
records only two fragments of administration which are as 
unsatisfying as fragments usually are. 

Daniel Martin, third son of Nicholas and Hannah (Old- 
ham) Martin, was born at The Wilderness, near Easton, in 
1780. The boy was given a liberal education and, be- 
cause of his father's business at Annapolis, gained the addi- 
tional benefit of being thrown with men of consequence. His 
primary training was acquired in part in his home county 
and part at Annapolis. After the completion of his pre- 
paratory schooling, he matriculated at St. John's College, 
Annapolis, where he received his academic training. Dur- 
ing his residence at Annapolis Mr. Martin made the acquaint- 
ance of Miss Mary Clare Maccubbin, of that city, who in 
1816, became his wife. After leaving college Mr. Martin 
devoted his time to agricultural pursuits, and for some time 
held aloof from public life, although he was ever active in 
the political councils of his county. His initial appear- 
ance as a legislator was made about the time of the feder- 
alists' final defeat. In 1819 Daniel Martin was sent to 
Annapolis with Mr. Samuel Sprigg, who shortly thereafter 
became governor, as Talbot's representative in the house 
of delegates. Martin remained in the legislature until 
182 1 , after which year he was lost for some time to the public 
eye. He was a man to whom the management of his farm 
made a strong appeal, and a large part of his time during 
the period intervening between his service in the legislature 
and his administration of affairs in the executive mansion 
was devoted to farming. 

In the decade from 1820 to 1830 one of the chief themes 
upon the stump in national and state campaigns was the 
question of internal improvements. An experiment with 
a canal in New York had revealed the means by which the 



I06 GOVERNORS OP MARYLAND 

commerce of the countr>' was to attain man-elous develop- 
ment, and every\vhere the talk was of cutting canals and 
building railroads. In Mar>'land the matter of internal 
improvements was especially stressed. When the legisla- 
ture met to elect a successor to Joseph Kent, who had been 
a herald of internal improvements, there were two candi- 
dates presented by the two factions of the republican- 
democratic party. Daniel Martin, of Talbot county, was 
chosen, and assumed otfice January 15, 1829. His term 
expired the next year, by which time the Jackson elements 
had succeeded in gaining control of the legislature and, 
instead of reelecting Governor Martin, Thomas King Carroll, 
a Jackson supporter, was chosen. Governor Carroll was in 
office from January 15, 1830, to January 13, 1831, by which 
time the legislature had again become anti-Jackson, and 
ex-Governor Martin was once more chosen state executive. 
His term, beginning in the opening days of 1831, continued 
only until July of the same year, when his death put to a 
close an administration that was both conservative and 
progressive. 

This fragmentary service as chief magistrate does not 
present an opportunity to draw a final conclusion as to the 
executive abilities of Governor Martin, but his utterances 
while in office and his public acts give no uncertain indica- 
tion of what his administration would have been, had 
there been afforded him ample opportunity for the dis- 
play of his ability. His chief characteristic — which made 
him unalterably antagonistic to President Jackson per- 
sonally, even though he might have been favorable to the 
political principles of Jackson's supporters generally — was 
an abhorrence of political patronage. General Jackson, on 
the other hand, was the high priest of the doctrine of polit- 
ical favors in the shape of public offices. All the predeces- 
sors of Jackson in tlic presidential office had to their credit 



DANIEL MARTIN I07 

a total of 74 removals from public office because of the polit- 
ical faith of those dismissed. When "Old Hickory," how- 
ever, came to the executive mansion he dismissed during 
the first year of his administration between 1000 and 2000 
office-holders that his own adherents might become public 
employees. This was the beginning of what is known as the 
"spoils system" in America, which is based upon the theory 
that to the victors belong the spoils of public office. 

Governor Martin was decidedly a virtuous politician, 
and whatever doctrines he either devised or supported were 
eminently moral. He was opposed to anything approach- 
ing a "spoils system," and declared that as soon as the par- 
ties should become thoroughly instilled with the notion 
that offices were simply rewards for political workers there 
would follow a desire to increase the number of public 
offices; and Governor Martin was an avowed advocate of 
such governmental organization as would call for few 
officers in the state departments. Although conservative 
in this particular, he was primarily a progressive man. He 
devoted much of his time to the consideration of internal 
improvements then going on. He took an active part in 
the affairs of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, of which he 
was a charter member, and gave his support to the Chesa- 
peake and Ohio canal project. He was untiring in his 
endeavors to have the educational institutions of the state 
increased in numbers and brought up to a higher standard 
of efficiency. He also advanced weighty arguments in 
favor of the employment of convicts confined in penal 
institutions for the purpose of manufacturing goods, the 
profits from which should considerably reduce, if not com- 
pletely offset, the expense attendant upon their incarcera- 
tion. 

While Governor Martin had had limited opportunity 
during his first administration of one year's duration to 



Xo8 GOVERNORS OP MARYLAND 

display his ability as an executive and his purity of pur- 
pose as a citizen, it was from his second administration 
that the greatest accomplishments were expected. His 
discharge of the duties of state executive during the term 
1829-30 received hearty indorsement by his reelection as 
governor after a break of a single year by the Carroll ad- 
ministration. Further, the ranks of his supporters in the 
state had been strengthened, and there was every reason 
to believe that he would be retained in office for the full 
two additional years to which he was eligible under the con- 
stitution. For both the state, therefore, and for Mr. Martin 
himself the outlook was promising, but death interposed, 
and what would have been the record of his subsequent 
administration of Maryland affairs, had he lived, remains 
a matter for speculation. He was taken ill on Friday, July 
8, 1 83 1, and died at his Talbot county estate on the follow- 
ing Monday, July 11, at 3 o'clock. Two days later he was 
buried near his home, on the Choptank river. 




IOMA5 KJ-NG CAKKULL 
1830-1831 



XXI 

THOMAS KING CARROLL 

Modesty and diffidence are not common traits in the aver- 
age politician. Indeed, it would appear little short of im- 
possible for a man with a markedly retiring disposition to 
win large political honors. But in the gallery of Maryland's 
governors there hangs the picture of one executive who was 
preeminently modest and quiet. His life began when the 
federation of the American states under the constitution 
was still in an experimental stage. He took part in the 
early political affairs of the state and witnessed America's 
development along democratic lines. He was in the heat 
of the slavery discussion, saw the conflict which sought to 
solve the negro problem, and watched over his native com- 
monwealth when she joined in the task of binding up the 
wounds inflicted by war. And yet, through it all, Governor 
Carroll appears more as a spectator than a principal, not 
because he only looked on, but because he labored quietly 
for the causes which he favored. He joined the company 
of governors so modestly, he remained in office so brief a 
period, and his retirement from the executive mansion was 
so quiet, that somehow he seems mingled with the crowd 
rather than the leaders. 

Thomas King Carroll was born at Kingston Hall, Somer- 
set county, April 29, 1793. He was descended from Capt. 
Henry Carroll, the proprietor of Susquehanna in St. Mary's 
county, who died shortly before the outbreak of the Revo- 
lution. Captain Carroll's eldest son was Col. Henry James 
Carroll, who married Miss Elizabeth Barnes King, the 
only daughter of Col. Thomas King, of Kingston Hall, 



no GOVERNORS OP MARYLAND 

Somerset county. Somerset was then a stronghold of the 
Presb>'terians, and when announcement was made of an 
eni;a^ement between Miss King, a Presb\terian. and Colonel 
Cvi :\»ll. a Roman Catholic, there followed considerable 
excitement in the county, and posters were distributed 
denouncing the marriage of a King and a Catholic. Upon 
his marriage Colonel Carroll and his wife took up their resi- 
dence at Kingston Hall, and there Thomas King Carroll, 
their eldest son, was bom. The home in which his boy- 
hood was passed furnished fertile soil for the development 
of a refined and cultured character, and Governor Carroll, 
despite his support of the democratic party, was in a num- 
ber of his ways a typical aristocrat of his day. Many of the 
old English customs were retained at Kingston Hall — all 
the servants wore livery, and when the family traveled it 
was in a coach and four with outriders. 

Young Carroll commenced his academic studies at Char- 
lotte Hall School, in St. Mary's county. In 1802 he entered 
Washington Academy. Somerset county, where he continued 
for the follo>*'ing eight years, leaving that institution in 18 10. 
He then became a member of the junior class of the Univer- 
sity of Pennsylvania, from which he was graduated in 181 1. 
In the fall of that year he began to study law in the office 
of Ephraim King Wilson, in Snow Hill, where he continued 
until 1813. He then entered the office of Gen. Robert 
Goodloe Harper, of Baltimore, and completed his law 
studies, qualifjnng at the bar of Somerset county in June, 
1814. He had determined to practice law in Baltimore, 
but the sudden death of his father upset his plans and 
changed considerably the course of his life. When the 
elder Carroll died Thomas King Carroll abandoned law, 
and returning to Kingston Hall undertook the manage- 
ment of his father's large estate. 

The year 18 14 was an eventful one in Mr. Carroll's life 



THOMAS KING CARROLL III 

for other reasons than that it witnessed his admission to the 
bar. On June 23 of that year, he was married to Miss Juli- 
anna Stevenson, a daughter of Dr. Henry Stevenson, of 
Baltimore. Dr. Stevenson was one of the most widely 
known and distinguished physicians of his day and is hon- 
ored in both medical and civic annals. Another important 
event in the early life of Carroll was his entrance into the 
Masonic order, of which he was throughout the remaining 
years of his life an active member. Shortly after having 
arrived at maturity Mr. Carroll was elected without opposi- 
tion a member of the house of delegates, where he served for 
two years. He was a member of the "jury" court and sub- 
sequently judge of the orphans' court, which office he held 
at the time of his election as governor of the state. He also 
served twice as an elector of the senate of Maryland. 

In the fall of 1829 Thomas King Carroll was elected gov- 
ernor over Daniel Martin, who was then in the executive 
mansion, and he was inaugurated on January 15, 1830. The 
legislative elections in the state, however, changed the com- 
plexion of the general assembly, and when the two houses 
were ready to ballot for a governor in the fall of 1830 the 
democrats were in the minority, and so Daniel Martin was 
reelected. In consequence the term of Governor Carroll 
covered only twelve months, and he relinquished the guber- 
natorial office to Martin on January 13, 1831. Like Gov- 
ernor Martin, Mr. Carroll was hindered because of the brief 
period in which he was in office from accomplishing any- 
thing of great moment as a monument to his administration 
He was the advocate of certain theories and principles, how 
ever, which somewhat distinguish the governor, if not the 
governorship. 

Mr. Carroll was much opposed to the prevailing tend- 
ency toward military display. In this he showed himself 
democratic, and at the same time gave evidence of being a 



118 GOVERNORS OP MARYLAND 

practical man, for his chief complaint against the thing 
deploreil was that it drew large crowds from their labor 
and resulted in dissipation. And yet Mr. Carroll personally 
was not democratic. He was a proud and sensitive man 
who was ceremonious even in his family circle and had a 
dignity of carriage which called forth the greatest considera- 
tion and deference wherever he appeared. He was intel- 
lectual and patriotic, and in all that he did or sought to 
do his intellectuality and patriotism were revealed ; but he 
lacked woefully the aggressiveness and self-seeking of the 
average politician. It is said that certain leaders in the 
legislature were conferring with a view to placing Mr. Car- 
roll in nomination for the United States senate, when a 
supposed friend took it upon himself to declare that Mr. 
Carroll would not accept the honor. There was but one 
man who could have resurrected the matter thereafter, but 
that one chose rather to be silent. 

Governor Carroll gave much thought to the subject of 
education. He joined the movement to improve the aca- 
demic department of the University of Mar\'land. and he was 
an advocate of an educational system in Maryland. He was 
also a man who appreciated the worth of history, and sug- 
gested to congress that provision be made for copying such 
Revolutionary records as were in the English libraries. He 
labored in behalf of the veterans of the Revolutionary war, 
aiding them in their efforts to receive much-needed assist- 
ance from the federal government. He also gave much 
thought to the question which was soon to prove a pitfall 
to the American nation, and his studies of slavery led him to 
join those who favored a policy which would colonize the 
negroes and free the states of their black burden. Shortly 
after his retirement as governor he was elected a member 
of the state senate, but declined to accept the office. Al- 
though he had been a stanch supporter of Jackson, he after- 



THOMAS KING CARROLL II3 

ward differed with "Old Hickory." and in consequence of 
their rupture joined the supporters of Henry Clay. 

Ex-Governor Carroll retired to Kingston Hall at the 
close of his administration, where he lived until 1840, when 
he removed to Dorchester county, taking up his residence 
on a large estate near Church Creek. Governor Pratt, who 
became governor of Maryland in the forties, appointed Mr. 
Carroll a lottery commissioner for Maryland, and when 
General Taylor became president in 1849, he appointed 
Mr. Carroll naval officer of the port of Baltimore. Mr. Carroll 
died at an advanced age on October 3, 1873. 



XXII 

GEORGE HOWARD 

Because of the great defect in Maryland's early constitu- 
tion, which made possible a yearly change of governors, 
the state experienced within the period from January, 1829, 
to January, 1833, four separate administrations. Daniel 
Martin, a legislator of large promise, entered the executive 
mansion in January, 1829, and inaugurated a policy which 
might have made his administration memorable: but the 
constitution permitted Mr. Martin's removal after he had 
served only one year. He was succeeded by Thomas King 
Carroll, a deep thinker and a wise counselor; but again the 
constitution opened up a way for denying the state much 
good from Carroll's administration. The federalists, hav- 
ing again won control of the legislature, turned Governor 
Carroll from office at the close of his first term and Mr. 
Martin was reinstated. For the next change of adminis- 
tration the constitution was not responsible. Martin died 
in the first year of his second administration, and left open 
the way for a new governor. George Howard, his successor, 
was the least promising governor of the three who occupied 
the executive mansion during these four short administra- 
tions. Consequently, by his retirement the state, to all ap- 
pearances, lost less because of its constitutional weaknesses 
than when Mr. Carroll and Mr. Martin failed of reelection. 
Governor Howard did not lack the ability to make an able 
executive, nor did he lack the morality to give the people a 
clean administration; his greatest fault was his disinclina- 
tion to be governor and as soon as his conscience would per- 
mit it, he stepped out of the governor's office back into 



GEORGE HOWARD 

1831-1S33 




COPYRIGHT 1908, BY H. E. BUCHHOLZ. 



GEORGE HOWARD II5 

private life, where he continued with only occasional and 
slight interruptions until the time of his death. 

George Howard was born the son of a governor of 
Maryland. His father, John Eager Howard, had served 
with great distinction in the Revolutionary War and was 
elected chief magistrate of Maryland the year before his 
governor-son's birth. General Howard had married Miss 
Margaret Chew, and to them was born, November 21, 1789, 
George Howard. By his schooling, as well as by his dis- 
position, young Howard seemed destined for a private 
rather than a public career; he was not possessed even in 
a small way of that ambition to lead which characterized 
his more famous brother, Benjamin Chew Howard. He 
received his education from private tutors at his father's 
estate of Belvedere, in Baltimore county, where he spent 
his early years. Through his association with General 
Howard, who was a hearty supporter of the federal party, 
it was but natural that he should imbibe federalistic 
doctrines, and he became an uncompromising federalist. 
His father had purchased a tract of land in Anne Arundel 
county near Woodstock, which was later incorporated into 
Howard county, and this place was presented to the son, 
who, on December 26, 181 1, married Miss Prudence Gough 
Ridgely, a daughter of Charles Carnan Ridgely, of Hamp- 
ton. They took up their residence at Waverly, Anne 
Arundel county, where a large family was reared. His 
children were a deep concern to Mr. Howard, who, upon 
being elected governor of Maryland in 1832, asked the 
legislature to be lenient with him as to the time when he 
should appear to qualify, as he was detained at home by 
the indisposition of his family. 

During the years that the Howards lived at Waverly 
they do not seem to have become prominent in public 
affairs to any marked extent. In fact, practically^the^first 



Il6 GOVERNORS OP MARYLAND 

appearance of any moment which the future governor made 
in public life was when he became a member of the coun- 
cil named to advise Governor Martin. This council was 
elected a few days after Daniel Martin was chosen governor 
and began its service in January, 1831. Howard was a 
great admirer of Martin and it is possible that his friendship 
for the governor was the greatest inducement in the way 
of persuading him to become a state official. Governor 
Martin died early in July, and Mr. Howard was suddenly 
brought into considerable prominence. At the meeting 
of the executive council, on July 22, 1831, he was called 
upon to assume the robe of his fallen chief, and it was with 
every evidence of sincerity that he declared he accepted 
the office solely because the death of Martin imposed upon 
him public duties from the due exaction of which he did 
not feel himself at liberty to retire. The short governor- 
ship which followed, covering the period from July 22, 1831, 
to January 17, 1833, presents an administration which 
is somewhat different from that of any other Marjiand 
governor. Mr. Howard at no time during his occupancy 
of the executive mansion seemed quite able to under- 
stand fully that the governor of Maryland and himself were 
one and the same man. He was forever standing aloof, 
surveying his administration more as a disinterested specta- 
tor than as the chief actor. He constantly brought to mind 
of others the fact that he had merely taken up the reins of 
government because the chosen chief had let them drop 
from his hands and he did not often seek to impress 
his individuality upon state affairs. What others had 
started he continued, but always, confessedly, as he thought 
they would have continuctl it; and not infrequently he 
refrained from giving expression to his own sentiments upon 
the plea that his predecessors in office had given expression 
to about the same sentiments. He was in truth the pilgrim 



GEORGE HOWARD II7 

governor, never for one moment losing sight of the fact 
that his governorship was transient. 

There were, of course, times when his individuahty asserted 
itself. He was bitter, for instance, in his public denounce- 
ments of President Jackson because the latter did not 
approve of certain improvements which the general govern- 
ment was requested to make in Maryland. But Governor 
Howard was greatly influenced in his attitude toward "Old 
Hickory" by the difference in their respective political 
faiths. Then, too, Mr. Howard was an uncompromising 
foe of lotteries, by which, in the name of charity, the people 
gambled legally. Churches were built, colleges endowed, 
and monuments raised through the proceeds of public 
lotteries. He favored an entire suppression of lotteries, 
that "constitute a system of gambling, which, although 
licensed, is extremely prejudicial." Himself a large slave- 
holder, he was a hearty supporter of such legislation as 
would secure to the owner of bondmen full enjoyment of 
their property. He was, however, favorable to the move- 
ment which had as its purpose a colonization of the negroes 
in Africa, and hoped that some day it might succeed in 
"the restoration of the whole of our colored population to 
the land of their forefathers." In the early forties Mr. 
Howard was instrumental in bringing slaveholders of Mary- 
land into an organized body for the purpose of seeing that 
the fugitive slave law was enforced. 

The unexpired term of Governor Martin, which was filled 
by Mr. Howard, terminated in January, 1832, and on the 
second day of that month the legislature nominated 
George Howard for governor, and he was chosen by a much 
larger majority than had been given his predecessor. Of 
the 82 ballots cast Mr. Howard received 64; 5 were given to 
Nicholas Brewer, and 13 blanks were voted. During this 
full term Governor Howard received from the legislature 



Il8 GOVERNORS OP MARYLAND 

of South Carolina certain documents bearinj» upon that 
state's proposed course of nullification. He had been 
taught from childhood not to shrink from responsibility 
in the expression of his opinion, whenever such opinion 
seemed to be called for, and he went after the leaders of 
South Carolina vsith a right good ^^•ill. "The spirit of 
insubordination" which showed itself in "the deluded 
people" of a sister state he labeled as a wickedness which 
could be thought of only "by desperate men or unfortunate 
maniacs." 

As was natural for a man brought up in the way that 
George Howard had been, he was somewhat impulsive and, 
consequently, frequently forced to change his views upon 
public questions after giving the subject less passionate 
and more reasonable consideration. He was first opposed 
to the state bank as a substitute for the bank of the United 
States, which Jackson refused to recharter, but subse- 
quently he became a hearty supporter of this institution. 
He discussed the subject of public education, but in his 
haste advocated that the state endow a few colleges, as if 
that would supply the need for general free schools. At 
the close of the term for which Governor Howard was elected 
he declined to stand for another term, ami James Thomas 
was chosen state executive in January, 1833. Mr. Howard 
subsequently appeared as a presidential elector in 1836 
and 1840 in support of Harrison, the whig, for president. 
He also took part in the slavery agitation in the late thirties 
and the forties. But his life after his retirement from 
the executive mansion was in general quite as uneventful 
as it had been before his governorship, and was brought 
to a peaceful end at Waverly, on August 2, 1846. 



XXIII 

JAMES THOMAS 

In making a word -picture of some public men an outline 
of their ancestry is not only unnecessary, but detrimental, 
for it weakens the effect of the character studied. This is 
natural, since many distinguished personages have sprung 
from commonplace parentage, and many more have had 
as their most marked traits characteristics that were not 
apparent in the make-up of their forebears. In like manner, 
when producing a word-portrait of some public men an 
account of their early environment is not requisite, because 
their development from ordinary into extraordinary char- 
acters seems altogether independent of any contribution 
from their childhood surroundings. But these rules are 
not applicable to a biographical sketch of James Thomas. 
He was descended from the Calverts. He was born and 
reared in staid old St. Mary's county. And viewed without 
the desirable background of ancestry and early environ- 
ment, Mr. Thomas may seem in his public career less pro- 
gressive and advanced than some of the public men of his 
time. Include, however, this background, and his person- 
ality becomes reminiscent of the more distinguished of 
Maryland's statesmen in colonial days. 

James Thomas, son of William and Catherine (Boarman) 
Thomas, was born at De la Brooke Manor, St. Mary's 
county, on March ii, 1785. On his maternal side he was 
related to Commander Robert Brooke, the adventurer, 
who came to America in 1650, and built the mansion in 
which the governor was born. Young Thomas was entered 
at Charlotte Hall Academy, from which he was graduated 



I30 GOVERNORS OP MARYLAND 

in 1804. He later went to Philadelphia, where he studied 
medicine, receiving his doctor's degree in 1 807 . Dr. Thomas 
then returned to his native county, where he began to 
practice his profession, and early the next year he was 
married to Miss Elizabeth Coates. For some years there- 
after he devoted his attention chiefly to his chosen profes- 
sion, and his practice made substantial gains in extent. 
Upon the outbreak of the second war with England, how- 
ever. Dr. Thomas left his fireside to take up arms in his 
country's cause, and was commissioned major in the Fourth 
Maryland Cavalry. Because of meritorious service he was 
subsequently bre vetted major-general. 

After the war — say 181 5 to 1820 — Dr. Thomas was chiefly 
a practitioner, but his daily joumeyings about the countr>' 
afforded him opportunity for studying the political field of 
his own county, and he finally determined to enter politics. 
In 1820 he appeared as a candidate for the general assembly. 
This appearance as a political factor market! the broadening 
of his activities, since for many years thereafter he was more 
or less constantly in public life. Dr. Thomas was elected 
to the house of delegates in 1820. and was several times 
reelected, so that his membership in the lower branch of the 
legislature continued from 1820 to 1826. He closed his 
career as delegate to enter upon the more important duties 
of state senator, in which capacity he served for five years. 

Throughout the legislative career of Dr. Thomas, the 
country generally and Maryland particularly were con- 
cerned with the subject of internal improvement. The 
people had gone mad about canal cutting and railway build- 
ing, and Dr. Thomas had been an ardent champion, in the 
house and in the senate, of all measures that looked for 
state aid to transportation lines either begun or planned. 
It was, perhaps, as much his record as a supporter of inter- 
nal improvement iTitirt,Ti<««s as anytluTii- • Ki" fli.Mt roci.tn- 



JAMES THOMAS 121 

mended him to the legislature for governor of the state 
when George Howard, in the opening month of 1833, 
refused to stand for reelection. Mr. Thomas was elected 
governor in 1833, and he was reelected in 1834 and 1835. 
No special significance, as far as he is concerned, attaches 
itself to the fact that at the time of his first reelection — 1834 
— his majority was very meager. That the whigs were able 
to give their nominee but 48 votes out of a total of 95 was 
due to a temporary disfavor of whiggish principles rather 
than to any fault with the state executive, and a year later — 
1835 — Governor Thomas received 67 out of 83 votes. 

It is in the governorship of Mr. Thomas that the back- 
ground of both his ancestry and his early training are most 
essential. In his demeanor there was a touch of formality, 
a ceremoniousness that in years gone by distinguished the 
landed gentleman from his less prosperous fellowmen. 
And in his thoughts, his utterances, and his doctrines there 
come to the surface, now and again, suggestions of the 
academic statesman. In short, the historical student will 
occasionally be led to believe that Governor Thomas gained 
his views upon life from books rather than through intimate 
association with his fellowmen. The real points of impor- 
tance, however, in his administration — extending from Jan- 
uary 17, 1833, to January 14, 1836 — are hinged upon matters 
of internal improvement. Some of these matters are com- 
mendable, some are censurable, but all were doubtless 
inspired by the desire of developing the agricultural and 
commercial possibilities of the land, and thereby enriching 
the people. 

First credit in the Thomas governorship must be given 
to the termination of the war between the Chesapeake and 
Ohio canal interests and those back of the Baltimore and 
Ohio railroad. The administration was influential in 
bringing about this peace, which meant much to the success 



123 GOVERNORS OP MARYLAND 

of the railway undertaking, at least. There had sprung 
up a rivalry between the two enterprises, and the canal 
people did ever>thing in their power to block the way of 
the railroad. Without resorting to the harsh measures 
that had been suggested by Governor Howard as being 
necessary to compel the canal interests to comply with the 
instructions of the legislature, an amicable condition was 
brought about which made it possible for the Baltimore and 
Ohio to shove its lines westward. Governor Thomas was 
also somewhat responsible for the state giving some $2,000,- 
000 to the Chesapeake and Ohio, and $1,000,000 to the 
Susquehanna railroad (later made part of the Northern 
Central railway.) The first contribution bore the state no 
benefit, though of course this could not be foreseen at that 
time; but the general cause for which both subscriptions 
were made was later to prove beneficial to Maryland. 
Dr. Thomas persistently advocated, both as a member of 
the general assembly and as governor, a more extended 
and a more efficient system of public education. It was 
during his administration that the first geological work in 
Maryland was started and the map produced at that time 
possesses'considerable historical value inasmuch as it restored 
the original names to many places whose historical identity 
had very nearly been lost. 

Like his whig predecessors and successor in office, Dr. 
Thomas was a political foe of President Jackson. He advo- 
cated liberal internal improvement at the expense of the 
state or nation, while Jackson opposed the employment of 
public funds for building transporation lines for private 
corporations. President Jackson and Governor Thomas 
also differed upon the question of banks; and here a passing 
word should be said regarding the failure of the Bank of 
Maryland during the Thomas administration. The stock 
of this institution was quoted at $500 a share — although its 



JAMES THOMAS I23 

par value was but $300 — up to the very eve of its failure. 
The collapse of the bank disclosed the fact that its securities 
had been manipulated at the expense of the people; yet 
for a year and a half after the failure the small creditors 
waited patiently for an accounting. At last the populace 
took matters into its own hands, and, beginning on August 
6, 1835, there were several days of rioting and mob-rule in 
Baltimore. The houses of those held responsible for the 
bank's downfall were broken into and the torch was applied 
to both furnishings and buildings. Finally Governor 
Thomas called upon the United States government for 
troops with which to end the riot, and the rioters were dis- 
persed, but not until more than a hundred thousand dollars' 
worth of property had been destroyed. This incident 
prompted Governor Thomas to take measures toward 
having a reliable state militia established. 

Governor Thomas was succeeded in 1836 by Thomas W. 
Veazey, the last of the whig governors. He retired to his 
home at Deep Falls, St. Mary's county, where he passed 
the remaining years of his life. He died on Christmas Day, 
1845- — ^ ~ — 



XXIV 

1 HOMAS WARD VEAZEY 

Maryland's first state constitution was adopted in 1776 — 
the same year in which the colonies declared their inde- 
pendence of England — and continued in force until 1851, 
when the second constitution was adopted. In the mean 
time, however, the earlier governmental instrument under- 
went radical modification, notably by a more liberal grant- 
ing of the elective franchise to the free citizens and by an 
amendment which took the election of governor and state 
senators from the legislature and electoral college, respec- 
tively, and gave it to the voters as a whole. To whom 
honor for this latter move toward republicanism properly 
belongs is uncertain : the democrats, then known as repub- 
licans, had advocated such a change long before it was 
effected; but on the other hand, the whigs — opponents 
generally of any move toward liberal democracy in govern- 
ment — were the ones who actually accomplished the 
change in 1838. That they were forced to accede to the 
general clamor for some such reform is but a half truth, 
although it must be admitted that the public demand was 
never so insistent as at the time when the reform act, 
which brought about the new order, was adopted. The 
apparent paradox of the situation — the foes of republican- 
ism granting the state a more republican government — 
is explained by the fact that the whig who was state 
executive at that time was a strategist, for it was solely by 
strategy that Governor Veazey. bom enemy that he was 
of real democracy, succeeded in writing himself do\sTi as 
a patron of truly democratic government. 




THOMAS WARD VEAZEY 
I 836-1 839 



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COPYRIGHT, 190a. BY H. E. BUCHHOLZ. 



THOMAS WARD VEAZEY 12$ 

Long before the state had thrown off her allegiance to 
England the Veazeys had become prominent in the affairs 
of the Eastern Shore of Maryland. The immigrant progeni- 
tor of the family was John Veazey, originally from Essex 
county, England, who came to America and finally settled 
in Cecil county, where he purchased in 1687 what is known 
as Cherry Grove. Edward Veazey, father of the governor, 
was a planter of Cecil county, who served as colonial high 
sheriff" from 1 7 5 1 to 1753, but otherwise remained in private 
life. His youngest son, Thomas Ward Veazey, was born 
on January 31, 1774. The father died while the boy was 
in his childhood; and his mother, who before marriage had 
been Miss Elizabeth De Coursey, also died before he had 
attained his majority. 

Mr. Veazey received his primary education in Cecil county, 
but later went to Washington College, where he completed 
his studies. Upon leaving college he returned to his 
home and became a planter. From early manhood he 
took an active part in the public matters of his section 
and, with increasing years, his interest in matters of public 
concern expanded so as to include the affairs of both the 
state and the nation. In 1808 and again in 181 2 Mr. 
Veazey was a presidential elector. In 1811 he was elected 
a member of the house of delegates from Cecil county and 
in the following year was reelected. During the second 
war with England, however, he forsook the general assem- 
bly that he might take part in the conflict, and was in com- 
mand of the forces which engaged in the defense of Frederick- 
town, Cecil county, when that place was attacked by the 
British. He served later as lieutenant-colonel of the 
Forty-ninth Maryland Regiment. After the close of hos- 
tilities Mr. Veazey was not much in the public eye until 
1833, when he again assumed a place in the council halls of 
the state. At this time he was chosen as a member of the 



136 GOVERNORS OP MARYLAND 

council of James Thomas, governor of Maryland, and was 
reelected to the council in 1834. 

At the close of Governor Thomas's a<iininistrati<.n. the 
whigs of the legislature named Mr. Veazcy as candidate 
for governor, and the Cecil countian received 53 of the 
total of 76 ballots cast, the remaining 23 tickets being 
blanks. The first impression made by the Vcazey adminis- 
tration was favorable. The eight-raillion-dollar bill, intro- 
duced in the legislature in 1835. was passed at a special 
session of the legislature in June of 1836, and upon its 
passage the people, imconscious of the bankruptcy which 
was to follow the state's reckless contribution to private 
enterprises, engaged in jollification throughout the common- 
wealth. The governor was feted and toasted, and every- 
body thought that a most notable thing had been accom- 
plished because Maryland gave to the Baltimore and Ohio, 
the Chesapeake and Ohio and several other companies sums 
aggregating $8,000,000 that were not in the treasury. 

Just three days thereafter, however, or on June 6, 
1836, the so-called reform convention met in Baltimore 
and discussed the necessity of changing the state con- 
stitution. Among the resolutions passeii was one recom- 
mending the people of the counties and cities friendly to 
amending the constitution to elect at the next October 
election delegates pledged to intrtxiuce and support a bill 
to provide for taking the sense of the people on the question 
of such reform. That a majority of the people of Maryland 
desired a change in the constitution is certain; that that 
majority was then able to secure such a change is, never- 
theless, questionable, because of the manner of electing 
state senators, who were not chosen directly by the peo- 
ple, but by an electoral college. Representation in this 
college was not in accord with the population of the various 
sections. Each county had the privilege of choosing two 



THOMAS WARD VEAZEY 1 27 

electors of state senators, while Baltimore city was per- 
mitted to name only one member and a like privilege was 
also granted to the small city of Annapolis. As a result 
of this inequitable arrangement a majority of the least 
populous counties of the state could by combination name 
the entire state senate, which was elected for five years. 

In the election of 1836 for members of the senatorial col- 
lege there were chosen 21 whigs and 19 democrats. The 
21 whigs represented 85,179 constituents, while the 19 
democrats represented 205,922. Thus it will be seen that 
the representatives of a little more than one-fourth of the 
people had a majority in the electoral college; the whigs 
however, lacked enough votes to have absolute control, as 
it was required that at least 24 ballots should constitute 
a quorum in the electoral college. Frederick county had 
instructed its electors that unless they could get the whig 
members to agree to name out of the fifteen men for state 
senators at least eight who were favorable to constitutional 
reform, they should refuse to go into session, provided, of 
course, they could get the other democratic members to act 
with them. The whigs refused to concede to this demand, 
and in consequence the democrats returned to their homes, 
without having gone into session, believing, as they did, 
that they had prevented the creation of a general assembly 
and hoping by some general convention to oust the whigs 
from power. But Governor Veazey calmly announced 
that since the electoral college had failed to elect a new 
senate, the old senate constituted the senate of Maryland, 
and that it should continue to do so until its successor was 
lawfully elected. At the same time he instructed the old 
state senators to assemble at Annapolis to discharge their 
duties until they should be superseded by legally elected 
successors. 

This was Governor Veazey's masterstroke. A man with 



ia8 GOVERNORS UP MARYLAND 

less courage than he would have faltered : a man with more 
passion would have gone too far. He went just far enough 
to rouse the people of the state to his support. Realizing 
that they had blundered, the bolting democrats returned 
to Annapolis; the electoral college went into session and a 
new state senate was elected. At this postponed election 
Mr. Veazey made his second masterstroke when he himself 
suggested to the legislature that the constitution be 
changed. Upon the reassembling of the electoral college 
fifteen whig senators were chosen, and thus the general 
assembly became ev^en more strongly whig than it had been 
at the beginning of Governor Veazey's administration. 

At the annual election for state executive on January 2, 
1837, Mr. Veazey's name was the only one presented. 
Of the 81 votes cast he received 70. During the second 
year of his administration, however, the people of the state 
returned to their earlier political faith, and although 
Governor Veazey was reelected in 1838, he received only 
53 votes of the 81, while 24 members of the legislature 
voted blanks and 5 votes were for other candidates. The 
gubernatorial election in 1838 marked the last time that 
the general assembly elected a governor for a full term. 
In the fall of 1838. in accordance with the amendment to 
the constitution the chief magistrate of the state was 
chosen directly by the people. The state senate was also 
reorganized, there being one senator from each county and 
one from Baltimore city, and the senators were chosen 
directly by the people, while the senatorial electoral college 
and the governor's council were both abolished. 

The administration of Governor Veazey was brought to 
a close in the opening days of January, 1839, when he 
was succeeded by William Grason. He retired to his Cecil 
county plantation, where he passed the closing years of 
his life. He had been married three times, and a large 



THOMAS WARD VEAZEY I29 

family was sheltered under his roof in the latter part of his 
life. His first wife, to whom he was wedded in 1794 was 
Miss Sarah Worrell, of Kent county, who died in the follow- 
ing year, leaving to his care a little daughter. His second 
wife was Miss Mary Veazey, the governor's first cousin; 
she died in 1810, leaving a family of children. In 1812 Mr. 
Veazey married Miss Mary Wallace, of Elkton, by whom 
he was the father of five children. The public question 
in which Governor Veazey was, perhaps, most interested 
was calling forth heated discussion at the time of his death, 
which occurred on July i, 1842. Had he lived longer he 
would doubtless have played an important part in the ante- 
bellum strife of debaters, for he was a large slaveholder, 
an uncompromising foe of abolition and an ardent supporter 
of the doctrine of states' rights. 



XXV 

WILLIAM GRASON 

Of all the sorts of men that go to make up the human 
family, there is none more discredited, less loved, or as much 
abused as the clan of Jeremiahs. Their office of lamenting 
strikes no responsive note in the average bosom, for they 
see only the ills of the world, while the people are striving 
to forget that there is aught of unpleasantness in life. The 
ordinary man finds a mountainous argument in favor of 
optimism in the mere fact that it is more cheerful than 
pessimism; and therefore the painstaking being who has 
smoked his glasses that he may see the truth clearly is either 
shoved to one side by the masses or greeted with derision, 
while he who wears the rose-tinted spectacles has ever at his 
heels a respectable mob. The people of Maryland in the 
first half of the last century were chiefly optimists, although 
the course which public affairs were taking then was des- 
tined to lead to financial disaster. It seems inconsistent, 
therefore, that they should have chosen as their first popular 
governor a pessimist, for Mr. Grason throughout his admin- 
istration seldom emerged from the r61e of a political Jere- 
miah. The fondest delusions of the people he shattered as 
easily as one might prick a bubble, and the thing which had 
for years been worshiped as prosperity he labeled "failure," 
As governor, at least, Mr. Grason was a destructionist; 
but the result of his efforts along this line were more bene- 
ficial to Maryland in the long run than many times as much 
constructive work of his predecessors. 

William Grason was bom at Eagle's Nest, on the Wye river, 
in 1786. His father, Richard Grason, was a farmer. The 




^..iii^HOLi. 




COPYR IGh 



3UCH HOLZ 



»■' 



WILLIAM GRASON I31 

boy received his elementary education in the neighboring 
schools on the Eastern Shore, but later was sent to Annap- 
olis, where he entered St. John's College. His intimacy 
with the sea during boyhood had developed in the youth an 
inclination for the life of a sailor, and after completing his 
course at St. John's, Mr. Grason entered the United States 
navy as a midshipman. His connection with the navy, 
however, did not continue for long, and he soon returned to 
his home, with his back forever turned upon the career 
of a sailor. In 1812 Mr. Grason was married to Miss Susan 
Orrick Sulivane, daughter of James Bennett Sulivane, of 
Cambridge, and the young couple settled near the Dorches- 
ter county home of the bride. After two or three years, 
however, Mr. and Mrs. Grason returned to the native county 
of the future governor, and here were spent the remaining 
years of his life, except when his gubernatorial or legislative 
duties carried him to Annapolis. Mr. Grason was very 
much of a home man. Although he filled a number of public 
offices and showed a disposition to fill more, he neverthe- 
less was happiest when amid home surroundings. He 
followed the rather unpretentious calling of a farmer; 
but in manners and in intellectual development he was as 
far from the common conception of the old-time farmer as 
"Log-cabin and Hard-cider" Harrison was from the things 
which were associated with his name in his presidential 
campaign. 

In early years Mr. Grason had been a member of the 
federalist party, and in later years one of the arguments 
used against him as democratic candidate was the fact 
that he had been with the federalists in their opposi- 
tion to the war of 1812-15. But the charge, although 
partly admitted, did not accomplish his defeat. Indeed, 
his ardent advocacy of the chief doctrines of President Jack- 
son was able to overcome all doubts as to his right to appear 



1^3 GOVERNORS OP MARYLAND 

under a ileiuttcratir standard. The two legislative tickets 
in Queen Anne's in 1828 were made up of Jackson and anti- 
Jackson candidates respectively. Upon the former was 
included the name of William Grason. and in the election 
this candidate received the greatest number of ballots of any 
of the members chosen to the lower house of the general 
assembly. In the following year he was again nominated, 
and once more outdistanceil his fellow candidates. Mr. 
Grason was chosen an elector of state senators in 1831, and 
two years later he appeared as a candidate for nomination 
for congressman. When the democratic delegates of the 
several counties met to nominate a candidate, the Queen 
Anne's members were for Mr. Grason; but the other dele- 
gates gave preference to John T. Reese, of Kent, and the lat- 
ter was named. Before the election, however. Dr. Reese, 
died, and another convention had to be called. Queen Anne's 
delegation had now descrteil Mr. Grason, for Richard B. 
Carmichael, who was nominated and elected. Mr. Grason 
was the nominee for congress of the Jacksonian party in 
1835. but was defeateii by the whig canilielate. James A. 
Pearce, who was elected by a majority of 123 ballots. 
Nothing daunted by his failure first to get the congressional 
nomination and then to win the election, Mr. Grason 
appeared in 1837 as a candidate for the state legislature, 
and received the greatest number of votes of the four suc- 
cessful candidates in his county. 

The state constitution as amended by the reform act, 
provided that the governor should be chosen by the people 
instead of the legislature, after 1838; and the term was to be 
for three years, which had come to be the customary time 
in office of most governors elected under the one-year terra 
provision. The state was divided into three gubernator- 
ial districts: the Eastern Shore; Baltimore city and the 
southern counties; and Harford, Baltimore and the western 



WILLIAM GRASON 133 

counties; and each of these districts was to have a turn in 
naming the candidates. In the spring of 1838 the democrats 
nominated WilHam Grason for governor, while the whigs 
named John Nevett Steele, of Dorchester county, thus mak- 
ing the first popular gubernatorial candidates representatives 
of the Eastern Shore district. The contest was one of excess- 
ive bitterness and vilification, and throughout the campaign 
charges of dishonesty and fraud and corruption were lodged 
against anybody and everybody who chanced to get into 
the contest. Mr. Grason was elected by a scant majority 
of 3 1 1 votes in the entire state, and was inaugurated on 
January 7, 1839. But the legislature was slightly whiggish 
in complexion. 

From inauguration day until his term expired. Governor 
Grason's voice gave expression to one endless jeremiad . First 
of all , the people of Maryland had engaged recklessly in appro- 
priating public funds, which had to be raised by loans, for in- 
ternal improvements, and they had never for a moment con- 
sidered that there would come a time when both interest and 
principal would have to be paid. The people had known 
only a light taxation for the current expenses of the govern- 
ment, and the mere suggestion of imposing a tax for the pur- 
pose of taking care of the obligations thus unwisely incurred 
aroused the masses to a state of bitter opposition. As 
his initial greeting to the legislature Governor Grason 
took up what he said would be the problem demanding the 
general assembly's most earnest thought — Maryland's 
pecuniary embarrassment. He pointed out how the public 
debt had been increased, and how it promised to continue 
to grow unless a radical change of policy was made, and he 
called attention to the necessity of guarding against "an 
increase of existing evils, and of providing, if possible, for 
the gradual redemption of the public debt." He combated 
the arguments of those who favored repudiation rather 



134 GOVERNORS OP MARYLAND 

than tax an unwilling people, by declaring that the debt 
had "been contracted, and confirmed by successive legis- 
latures sanctione<l by the people themselves, in the contin- 
ued reelection of representatives who were most prominent 
in creating it, and the obligations of the state are in the hands 
of men who relied upon good faith, and whose borrowed 
money has been expended on her works. It is impossible to 
question the validity of the debt, and unreasonable to 
plead inability without first making an effort to discharge 
it." 

There was no more unpleasant truth that Governor Gra- 
son could have uttered to the people of Maryland, who 
were seeking to devise some means by which to escape the 
large public debt which had been accumulated. When the 
people suggested that the national government turn over 
certain moneys obtained from public lands, he showed how 
unreasonable and unconstitutional such a course would be 
and advised that, instead of planning to escape their obli- 
gations, the people of Maryland should meet them bravely 
and promptly. In his message of December, 1840, Governor 
Grason sets forth in some detail the way in which the finan- 
cial troubles then oppressing the state had been brought 
about, and also how they might in his opinion be removed. 
And finally, while the words in praise of the amended consti- 
tution, uttered by Governor Vcazey, were still echoing 
through the state. Governor Grason made the rather melan- 
choly observation that " No one can tell what the constitu- 
tion is, or where it is to be found." 

He repeatedly arraigned the whigs for the burden they 
had brought upon Maryland, and the fact that the legisla- 
ture was whiggish never suggested to him the need of con- 
cealing his displeasure at the blunders of his political oppo- 
nents. After his retirement on Januar>' 3, 184a, Mr. Grason 
returned to his Queen Anne's farm. In 1850, he was nomi- 



WILLIAM GRASON I35 

nated by the democrats of Queen Anne's for the constitu- 
tional convention and helped to frame the constitution of 
1851. In that year, 1 851, ex- Governor Grason was nomi- 
nated for the state senate and he once more showed his 
popularity in his home county by polling more votes than 
any of the other candidates voted for at the election. Six 
years later he was again candidate for the upper house of 
the general assembly, but was defeated by the know- 
nothing nominee, Stephen J. Bradley. Queen Anne's 
county became much wrought up over the presidential cam- 
paign of i860, and when Lincoln's election was announced, 
the countians began to discuss means of self-protection. 
How strongly the county was against the republican candi- 
date is shown by the fact that Lincoln received not one vote 
in all Queen Anne's. A delegation was appointed by the 
county to take part in a conference of leading Marylanders, 
to be held in Baltimore in January, 1861, to determine 
what course Maryland should pursue in the "emergency," 
and Mr. Grason was one of this delegation. He was chosen 
president of the convention, but was unable to preside. Gov- 
ernor Grason was now getting well on in years, and his ill 
health prevented him from taking the active part in public 
affairs which he had taken when a young man. He spent 
the closing years of his life on his Queen Anne's farm, dying 
on July 2, 1868, at the age of eighty-two. 



XXVI 

FRANCIS THOMAS 

Caesar, Brutus, Antony — each in turn sways the masses, 
and under the momentary spell of his influence what the 
people said and thought and did yesterday is made of no 
effect by what the same people say and think and do today. 
It has always been so; it is so now; and it ever will b>e so — 
public sentiment is as restless as a fluttering humming-bird. 
In the early part of the whig administraticm of Governor 
Veazey, a few senatorial electors sought, by somewhat 
revolutionary methods, to accomplish a reform for which 
three-fourths of the people were clamoring. But Mr. Veazey 
— really a representative of the remaining one-fourth — 
by a fine bit of strategy brought many of his political 
enemies to his support, and led the people generally in a 
charge upon the very leaders, who a short time before had 
been their champions. And Governor Veazey triumphed 
and was reelected, while the once-favorite electors were 
labeled as revolutionists and dangerous men. This occurred 
in 1837-38; but just a few years later, 184 1, the chief 
of the discredited leaders of the former revolt came before 
the people for their votes, offering neither justification nor 
apology for his earlier action, and straightway the masses 
flocked to his standard and made him governor of the state. 
With this election there entered the company of Maryland's 
chief magistrates one of the most remarkable men who has 
been honoretl by the commonwealth with public offices 
— Francis (or Frank) Thomas. 

Francis Thomas was bom in Frederick county on 
February 3, 1799, the seventh child of Francis and Nelly 




FRANCIS THOMAS 
1842-1845 




COPYRIGHT. 1908, BY H. E. BUCHHOL2. 



FRANCIS THOMAS I37 

(Magill) Thomas. At the age of twelve he became a student 
at St. John's College, AnnapoHs, where he continued for some 
time, although he was not graduated. He later prepared 
himself for the legal profession and was admitted to the bar 
of Maryland in 1820. Mr. Thomas set up an office as a 
counselor-at-law at Frederick and succeeded in acquiring a 
large and profitable clientele in the Western Maryland coun- 
ties. Just about two years after his admission to the 
bar he appeared as a democratic candidate for the house 
of delegates. Although the people of the western counties 
were perhaps inclined to the federalist, or whiggish, doc- 
trines on most points, rather than to the democratic creed, 
it was at this time that some little importance was being 
attached to the question of readjusting the apportionment 
of representatives in the general assembly. The federalists 
were unfavorable to a policy which would regulate legis- 
lative representation according to the population, because 
that would give the cities too much power, while the demo- 
crats were advocates of just such a readjustment of rep- 
resentation. As Frederick county was one of the divisions 
which would profit most by a change in the apportionment, 
it readily fell into the democratic ranks. Francis Thomas 
was strongly, even violently, in favor of cutting down the 
existing power of the federalists, and he was elected a mem- 
ber of the house of delegates. 

He again appeared as a candidate for the legislature in 
1827 and in 1829 and was successful in both campaigns. 
During his last term in the house Mr. Thomas served as 
speaker and in the following year he was nominated for con- 
gress and elected. Four times thereafter did he come be- 
fore the people of Western Maryland as a candidate for the 
house of representatives, and each time he was chosen to the 
coveted office. This gave him an unbroken service in the 
lower branch of the national legislature from December 5, 



138 GOVERNORS OP MARYLAND 

1831, when he took his seat, to March 3, 1841. During a 
short part of this time, from 1839 to 1840, Mr. Thomas was 
president of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company. It 
was also during his congressional career that he led the 
electors who revolted. The senatorial electoral college 
was made up at that time of 31 whigs and 19 democrats. 
Frederick county had instructed its members not to go into 
session for electing state senators unless the whigs would 
previously agree that at least 8 of the 15 senators to be 
chosen were men known to be favorable to constitutional 
reform. Congressman Thomas took charge of the demo- 
cratic electors, but the plan miscarried and the men who 
had sought to carry out the people's wishes were labeled 
revolutionists and unsafe agitators. The movement, how- 
ever, was succeeded by amendments to the constitution, 
reorganizing the executive and legislative departments of 
the government. 

When the democratic state convention met in 1841 to 
nominate a candidate for governor to succeed William Gra- 
son, Francis Thomas was named. He was the second dem- 
ocratic gubernatorial nominee under the amended state 
constitution, and his opponent, according to the provision 
of the constitution which gave to each of the three guber- 
natorial districts of the state a turn in naming the candi- 
dates, also came from Western Maryland, or the north- 
western district, and was William Cost Johnson. In the 
election Mr. Thomas was chosen governor by a majority 
of 62 1 votes. He was inaugurated at Annapolis on January 
3, 1842 — his term to continue for three years thereafter. 
Around this period of Thomas' career clusters the greatest 
activity of his life. First of all, his nomination was in every 
sense an opportunity for promotion, and the nominee 
regarded it as the biggest battle of his political career. He 
went into it with a vim and determination that were not 



FRANCIS THOMAS I39 

common, and he electioneered throughout the state. In 
Hagerstown he encountered WilHam Price, a distinguished 
fellow member of the bar, and the pair had a heated dis- 
cussion upon the political issues. The impetuosity of 
Governor Thomas is here somewhat revealed by the fact 
that as a result of a disagreement the candidate for gov- 
ernor felt called upon to engage his opponent in a duel. 

Contemporaneous with Mr. Thomas' nomination, election, 
and inauguration as chief magistrate of Maryland were 
his ill-advised venture into matrimony, disturbed honey- 
moon and his rupture with his bride of a few weeks. The 
story of this domestic tragedy has been preserved in minute 
detail by Governor Thomas, who in a frenzy of anger pub- 
lished a pamphlet, in 1845, i^ which he laid bare with unpar- 
donable brutality his relations with the woman who had 
been his wife. The unfortunate alliance had been the 
result of an unusual wooing between the Maryland states- 
man and Miss Sally McDowell, a daughter of Governor 
James McDowell, of Virginia. Miss McDowell was a girl of 
fifteen when Mr. Thomas, then a member of the house of rep- 
resentatives, met her in Washington, while he was thirty-seven 
years of age. In vindication of his subsequent conduct, 
when he later exposed every detail of his relations with the 
girl both as sweetheart and as wife, he sought to make it 
appear that he had been influenced into marrying her ; such 
a defense, however, was altogether to his discredit. At all 
events, on June 8, 1841, when Mr. Thomas was forty-two he 
married Miss McDowell, aged twenty. But within a few 
days he began to entertain very uncomplimentary sus- 
picions of his wife. He seems to have been constantly 
upbraiding her for either frivolity or greater offenses, and 
he was ever ready to demand that she return to her home 
until her old bachelor husband might become convinced 
that she was everything that he hoped. This mere sug- 



140 GOVERNORS OP MARYLANH 

gestion was as unusual as it was insulting, and yet Mr. 
Thomas never seemed to be able to understand why Mrs. 
Thomas would not comply with his demands. Finally her 
relatives came and took her under their protection, and then 
Mr. Thomas began a long struggle to regain possession of 
his wife. Subsequently, Mrs. Thomas obtained a divorce 
and became the wife of Reverend Mr. Miller, an esteemed 
Presb>terian minister of Philadelphia. 

During the three years that Francis Thomas administered 
the affairs of the commonwealth he was. of course, laboring 
under the worr)' and cares that his estrangement had natur- 
ally imposed, but these trials did not cause him to shirk 
in the smallest degree the duties which his election had 
placed upon him. He appreciated the fact that the people 
of Maryland had chosen him as their governor, and he strove 
constantly and successfully to show himself a big enough 
man to act faithfully in that capacity, despite his domestic 
troubles and delusions. Governor Grason. who preceded 
him, had throughout this administration sounded warnings 
to the people that the course which public affairs had been 
permitted to take would terminate in financial disaster. 
Governor Thomas was likewise opposed to the reckless em- 
ployment of state funds for private ot semi-public enter- 
prises and continue«l the work of lamenting where Mr. Gra- 
son had left off. 

Governor Thomas acknowledgcil the endeavors of the 
immediately preceding administration to remedy exist- 
ing evils, and yet he could only report that the means 
devised had proved inadequate. He suggested! certain 
ways in which he believed that the burden which had been 
placed upon the state might be lightened and possibly event- 
ually removed, and he did much toward saving the common- 
wealth from falling prey to the temptation of repudiation. 
The legislature, realizing that something had to be done to 



FRANCIS THOMAS I4I 

prevent the enormous debt of the state from increasing 
further by the accumulation of arrear interest, levied a tax 
upon the people. But the people to a large extent refused 
to pay the tax. As the state was unable to pay interest 
-on her bonds, Mr. Thomas suggested as a remedy, that 
the coupons upon state bonds be accepted as currency. 
This course was to work to advantage for the owner of bonds 
— who otherwise would have been compelled either to hold 
his coupons indefinitely or to sell them at a very great sac- 
rifice—as it placed in his hands a reasonably good nego- 
tiable paper. At the same time it opened up for circulation 
in payment of public debts a large amount of governmental 
paper. But in 1842 Maryland was forced to suspend 
payment on its bonds, and this gave rise to a somewhat 
marked agitation for repudiation. Although neither Gra- 
son nor Thomas can be regarded as other than the most 
pronounced enemies of repudiation, it was not until the 
administration of Governor Pratt — the whig successor of 
Mr. Thomas — that the idea of repudiation was finally dis- 
posed of in Maryland and the state's creditors were given 
assurance that the commonwealth would honor her every 
obligation. Thomas, in his message to the legislature, 
asserted that "the debt of Maryland, however unwisely 
contracted, was created by the representatives of her peo- 
ple. This being the case, every principle of honor as well 
as of justice, makes it the imperious duty of the people 
to essay every effort to meet the obligations which their 
own agents have imposed." 

Governor Thomas retired from the executive mansion on 
January 6, 1845, and then went to his Frederick county 
home, from which he issued a few weeks later his remark- 
able attack on Mrs. Thomas and her friends. He lived very 
much to himself for the remaining years of his life, which 
covered the rather long period from 1845 to 1876. At times 



14a GOVERNORS OP MARYLAND 

he was almost a recluse, but occasionally he took part in 
public affairs. Late in the forties he became an active 
advocate for constitutional reform and was elected a mem- 
ber of the convention which sat from November. 1850, to 
May. 1 85 1, and devised the constitution of 185 1. In this 
convention he fought with his old time fire for a more equit- 
able apportionment of representation, and also combated 
the endeavors of the slave-holding counties to gain any 
additional power. But when his services here ended, he 
again sought retirement. It was not until the outbreak of 
hositilities in 1 86 1 that he came into prominence again. He 
then raised a regiment of 3000 soldiers to fight for the 
north. Mr. Thomas was once more elected a member of the 
lower house of congress, in which body he scrveil from 1863 
to 1869. Although he had been a democrat till 1861. 
he now became a supporter of the republican party. He 
was active throughout the remaining years of the war, 
though, with the succession of Johnson after Lincoln's 
death, Mr. Thomas became an opponent of the "tailor" 
president. 

Radical, even revolutionary, as Governor Thomas was as 
a leader, he rendered Maryland greater service, perhaps in 
republicanizing the fonn of government given the people 
than did any other state governor. His organization of 
the revolt in 1836, although it brought him into momen- 
tary disrepute, was the ilircct cause of the reform act, which 
made the governor and state senators the representatives 
of the people, instead of the representatives of the legisla- 
ture and of the electoral college. I le was largely responsible 
for the constitutional convention of 1850, and when he 
realized how far short that movement fell of its purposes 
he fought untiringly for a new convention. Upon his retire- 
ment from congress, Francis Thomas wasappointed. in April, 
1870, collector of internal revenue for the Cumberland dis- 



FRANCIS THOMAS I43 

trict. He resigned this position in March, 1872, to accept 
the post of minister to Peru. He remained in the South 
American repubhc until the summer of 1875, when he retired 
frompubhc Hfeand resumed his practice of the law in West- 
ern Maryland. 

Mr. Thomas was much interested in his estate at Frank- 
ville and planned to make extensive improvements upon 
the place, which he purposed to occupy during the 
remaining years of his life. While superintending these 
improvements in the early part of the year 1876, Mr. Thomas 
was run down by a locomotive of the Baltimore and Ohio 
Railroad near Frankville and instantly killed, January 23, 
1876. Several days later he was buried in the cemetery 
belonging to St. Mark's Episcopal Church, near Petersville. 
Over the grave was erected a stone bearing the inscription 
which the deceased himself had penned for his tombstone: 
"The author of the measure which gave to Maryland the 
constitution of 1864 and thereby gave freedom to 90,000 
human beings." 



XXVII 

THOMAS GEORGE PRATT 

Greater men than Governor Pratt — more patriotic, more 
intellectual, more daring men — have been chief magis- 
trates of Maryland doubtless, but not many, if any, out- 
rival him in the homage paid by the people and the his- 
tories of the state to his memor)'. Of him it has been said — 
not once, but time and time again — that he did more than 
any other man to save proud old Maryland from the shame 
of repudiation. He appears in the light of one who dis- 
coursed to his fellow-statesmen upon the beauties, the peace- 
fulness, the tranquillity of the path of virtue, and after clos- 
ing his discourse took down the lash and vigorously, almost 
brutally, drove the people of the state into that path 
whose attractions he had extolled. It must, however, be 
admitted that the method he employed was in all proba- 
bility the only one that would have been effective. But while 
Mr. Pratt is confessedly remembered for having reestab- 
lished Marj'land's credit, there was another transaction in 
his public life which, perhaps, did almost as much to secure 
his fame among his contemporaries: thereis, in deed, a ik>s- 
sibility that although he was canonized in later years for 
his gubernatorial administration, his labor to redeem 
Maryland's honor was probably at times but a cloak under 
which lay the real cause of many i>eople's aflfection — Gov- 
ernor Pratt's bold support of the Confederacy during the 
Civil War. 

Thomas George Pratt was born in Georgetown. District 
of Columbia, on February i8, 1804. Although not a native 
of Marj'land by birth, his ancestors had been promment 




THOMAS GEORGE PRATT 
1845-1848 



THOMAS GEORGE PRATT 145 

residents of Prince George's county and in early manhood 
the future governor became a Marylander. His parents 
afforded him every opportunity to acquire a Hberal educa- 
tion, and sent him, after the elementary courses had been 
completed, to Georgetown College and later to Princeton. 
He early determined to enter the legal profession, and while 
in the District of Columbia read law in the office of Richard 
S. Coxe. In 1823 he moved to Prince George's county, 
and subsequently practiced his profession in the town of 
Upper Marlboro. In taking up his residence in Prince 
George's, Mr. Pratt became a fellow-countian of Joseph Kent, 
who a few years later, in 1825, was chosen governor of Mary- 
land. There sprang up an intimacy between the two men 
and between the younger man and the family of Governor 
Kent, particularly Miss Adelaide Kent; and the young law- 
yer firmly cemented the friendly relations of the two families 
by marrying Miss Kent. From the time of the marriage 
of the couple until the death of Governor Pratt, their home 
was famed for its hospitality and the character of the guests 
entertained at the family board. 

Mr. Pratt made his debut as a legislator early in the thir- 
ties when in the closing years of George Howard's admin- 
istration he was chosen a member of the house of dele- 
gates . He served in the lower branch of the legislature from 
1832 to 1835. He was a member of the state electoral 
college of 1836, that famous body in which occurred the 
revolt of the "glorious 19" democrats. In the same year 
he was named as president of the governor's council and 
continued in the council during the administration of 
Governor Veazey. In 1837 he appeared as a presidential 
elector and cast his vote for Martin Van Buren. 

At the close of his service as president of the governor's 
council, Mr. Pratt was elected to the Maryland senate and 
remained in that body consecutively from 1838 to 1843. 



146 GOVERNORS OP MARYLAND 

This was a critical period in Mar>'land'8 histon' and the men 
who sat in the legislative halls at Annapolis were closely 
watched by the voters of the state. The various sections 
of the state were greatly agitated because of the gloomy 
financial outlook. Maryland was burdened with debt and 
there was not sufficient money which which to pay the interest 
on that debt, let alone any attempt to diminish the amount 
of indebtedness. Taxes had been levied, but the govern- 
mental officials had been unable to collect them, and through- 
out the commonwealth was talk of repudiation. Mr. Pratt, 
during the period that he sat in the state senate, had shoA\'Ti 
himself a man with decided views upon the subject of repudia- 
tion with courage to express his views. He was decidedly 
the strongest candidate whom the whigs could find in the 
middle gubernatorial district in 1844 and the convention 
placed his name at the head of its state ticket. The demo- 
crats named James Carroll, of Baltimore. Mr. Pratt'sdemand 
in the campaign was that the state should pay its debt, and 
upon this he won the election for his party, though by a nar- 
row majority of 548 votes. It must not be supposed that 
Governor Pratt alone reestablished Maryland's credit, as is 
sometimes intimated. There were many men in the state 
equally zealous of Maryland's honor, but circumstances 
favored him. For instance, both William Grason and Francis 
Thomas — Pratt's immediate predecessors — were as firm as he 
in declaring that the people must pay their debts ; but while 
they administered the aflfairs of the commonwealth business 
was at a standstill and currency almost out of circulation : 
when Governor Pratt reestablished the state's credit busi- 
ness had improved and money was easier. In his first 
message to the legislature he asserted: "From an abundant 
harvest now at hand this is the time to pay our debts." 

This change from commercial stagnation to business pros- 
perity was an enormous factor in favor of saving Mary- 



THOMAS GEORGE PRATT 147 

land from the temptation of repudiation, although with a 
chief executive of less firmness than Mr. Pratt the common- 
wealth, despite its prosperity, might still have neglected the 
unloved state debts. But even after deducting from Governor 
Pratt's account the excess credit which has occasionally been 
accorded him, there remains enough to give him distinction 
among the statesmen who have made history in Maryland. 
He was inaugurated governor on January 6, 1845, and his 
term expired on January 3, 1848. During these three years 
he was untiring in his endeavors to have Maryland resume 
her interest payments, which had been passed continuously 
since 1842, and within a few days of his retirement from 
the gubernatorial office the state did resume these payments. 
Under his administration the taxes were collected, for whether 
the people favored repudiation or not made little difference 
to the determined governor, who charged Maryland's failure 
in 1842 to pay her maturing obligations to the neglect of 
governmental officials in the matter of enforcing the laws. 
During Governor Pratt's administration occurred the Mex- 
ican War, and he promptly declared that "the sons of Mary- 
land have always obeyed the call of patriotism and duty, 
and will now sustain the honor of the state." His proph- 
ecy was fulfilled. His governorship also witnessed much 
difficulty regarding an enforcement of the law regulating 
slave property, and this, perhaps, more than anything else, 
made Pratt the whig over into the democratic Pratt of 
later years. Several slaves had escaped frm Maryland into 
Pennsylvania and the governor made out requisitions upon 
the executive of the Quaker state for their return, but the 
governor of Pennsylvania refused in both cases to gratify 
the demand, and accompanied one of his refusals with the 
opinion of the attorney-general of that state, declaring that 
the act of the general assembly of Maryland of 1838 was 
deemed unconstitutional by the authorities of Pennsylvania. 



148 GOVERNORS OP MARYLAND 

Somewhat later other slaves escaped into Pennsylvania and 
their owners went thither and un<ier a pronsion of an act 
of congress proved their pro{)erty and started for Maryland 
when they were set upon by residents of the Quaker state, 
the slaves released and in the conflict one of the Maryland- 
ers — Mr. Kennedy — was killed. Finally a negro owned 
by Alexander Somerville, of Calvert county, attempted to 
kill his master and then fled into Pennsylvania, where he 
was arrested, and, after a protracted trial before a Philadel- 
phia court, ordered delivered to the Mar>iand authorities. 
But immediately a writ of habeas corpus was issued by some 
other tribunal than that before which the case had been tried 
and the criminal was rescued by the populace. These 
several violations of the law concerning slave property made 
Governor Pratt an uncompromising supporter of slavery'. 
After his retirement from the executive mansion Mr. 
Pratt resumed his law practice in Annapolis. He had taken 
up his residence permanently in the state capital, having 
purchased the colonial residence of Governor Ogle. He was 
not, however, permitted to remain in private life for any 
great length of time. Reverdy Johnson had accepted the 
portfolio of attorney-general of the United States from 
President Taylor on March 8. 1840. and consequently 
resigned his seat in the United States senate. The legisla- 
ture of the state named Mr. Pratt as Senator Johnson's 
successor for the remaining year of his term and also elected 
him for a full term of six years additional. He took his 
seat in the upper house of congress on January 4, 1850. and 
continued there until March 3. 1857. During these seven 
years he represented his state with credit and honor, 
though his senatorial career was not marked with such note- 
worthy distinction as his gubernatorial administration. 
The whig party had now passed from national politics, and 
in 1856 John C. Fremont appeared as the first presidential 



THOMAS GEORGE PRATT I49 

nominee of the republicans, while James Buchanan was the 
democratic standard-bearer. Mr. Pratt supported the 
latter, and was even more radical than Buchanan in his 
attitude toward the question of slavery and secession. 
Indeed, at the outbreak of hostilities between north and 
south, Governor Pratt was regarded with considerable fear 
by the governmental officials, and was arrested in 1861 and 
held a prisoner at Fort Monroe for several weeks. Although 
he did not join the secession forces himself, he gave to the 
confederate army his moral support throughout the contest 
and the services of his son. 

After the expiration of his congressional service, in 
1857, Mr. Pratt returned to his Annapolis home, where he 
remained until 1864, when he took up his residence in 
Baltimore. In 1864 he was a delegate to the Chicago 
national convention, and in 1866 he attended the union 
convention at Philadelphia as a delegate. He appeared 
as a candidate for the United States senate in 1867, but 
received only meager support in the election which resulted 
in the selection of William T. Hamilton. This was about 
his last public appearance of note, and two years later, on 
November 9, 1869, he died at his home in Baltimore. 



XXVIII 

PHILIP FRANCIS THOMAS 

Among some of the less advanced peoples a man's 
vocation is determined hereditarily, and as a consequence 
there has spnmg up a powerful system of caste founded 
upon occupation. A butcher is not tempted to squander 
his money sending his boy to college, for the inevitable law 
of the land is that the son must be a butcher also; and the 
daughter of a baker is not prompted to make personal 
sacrifices because of social ambitions — she is destined by 
a barbarian, though not unwise, law to remain in the baker 
class. A parallel of this custom is found in many of 
the more civilized countries of the world, although the 
system of heredity there is more arbitrary in certain 
professions than in the business calling of the ofTspring. 
In America the religious persuasions and the political 
faith of the sire are reflected in the son. A Methodist 
brings up a Methodist, a Baptist rears a household of httle 
Baptists. So far this is natural and harmless. But when 
the son is a republican because his father is, or when a 
youth becomes an adherent of democracy for no other 
reason than that his parent votes the democratic ticket, 
there is ground for suspicion that the younger citizen 
selects his political creed sentimentally rather than intellec- 
tually. This phase of heredity has become so thoroughly 
imbueil in the national mind that there is invariably a 
raising of the eyebrows when the son of a republican 
joins the ranks of the democrats, or trice versa. Bearing 
this in mind, and with it the fact that seventy-five or 
a hundred years aj'o tluTi- was in manv sivtions df Marvland 




PHILIP FRANCIS THOMAS 
I 848-1851 





COPYRIGHT 190e. BY H. E. BUCHHOLZ 



PHILIP FRANCIS THOMAS - 151 

a social distinction between the two leading political 
parties, it seems very surprising, indeed, that the son of a 
well-connected Talbot county federalist should have 
adopted the cause of democracy in that district of aris- 
tocracy. But the conversion of Governor Thomas when a 
young man to democracy was only a promise of even 
more surprising spectacles to which he should treat his 
fellow-countians in after years. 

Philip Francis Thomas was born at Easton, Talbot 
county, on September 12, 1810. His father. Dr. Tristram 
Thomas, practiced medicine on the Eastern Shore for 
more than fifty years; his mother before her marriage 
had been Miss Maria Francis. Young Thomas was early 
entered at the academy at Easton, where he received 
his elementary schooling. Later he was sent to Carlisle, Pa., 
where he became a student at Dickinson College. For 
two years he labored at Dickinson, sometimes over his 
books and at other times striving to concoct schemes 
whereby he might relieve his high-strung spirits. The 
detection, however, of one of his youthful indiscretions 
resulted in his suspension from Dickinson, and he returned 
to Easton. He then became a law student in the office 
of William Hayward, and in November, 1831, was admitted 
to the bar. It was not long before Mr. Thomas began 
to make a name for himself as an attorney. He was, 
however, regarded by both relatives and friends as a man 
of most erratic temperament, because he did not pursue 
the precepts which others laid down for him arbitrarily, 
and occasionally dealt fogyism and excess-respectability 
some rather telling blows. His father had been an ardent 
federalist, and upon the death of the federalist party he 
became an even more ardent whig. Nearly all the other 
Thomases were of like political conviction. And Talbot 
county, the home place of the Thomases, was not only 
whig, but overwhelmingly whig. 



152 GOVERNORS OP MARYLAND 

When Philip Francis Thomas declared himself a demo- 
crat, consternation spread through the social circles in 
which his relatives moved. Not only did it appear to the 
whiggish friends that he had committed a grave blunder, 
but they felt convinced that he could never thereafter 
hope for any official recognition from the people, when 
ultimately he should seek admission to the fold of the 
whig party. But Mr. Thomas had no intention of recant- 
ing. He pulled together the fragments of a party which 
in Talbot county responded to the name democracy and 
he ran for the legislature in 1834, and was defeated badly. 
But his defeat accomplished nothing in the way of taming 
the youth. Two years later, in 1836, he again appeared 
as a candidate and had the audacity to espouse the move- 
ment for a constitutional convention which should accom- 
plish a reapportionment of the state. Nothing could have 
been selected to arouse the ire of the Talbot countians 
more, and as an evidence of the people's displeasure Mr. 
Thomas received 200 votes less than his opponent. The 
following year he disregarded the advice of his counselors 
and again ran for office, and this time was defeated by 
only 17 votes. At this time the state constitution was 
so amended as to make the election of governor a matter 
for direct vote by the people. Thomas was a delegate to 
the democratic convention which met in Baltimore in 
1838 and nominated William Grason for governor, and 
Mr. Thomas boldly pledged Talbot county to Mr. Grason, 
and carried out his pledge. In Talbot the democratic 
gubernatorial candidate received a majority of 130 votes, 
while Mr. Thomas, who was a candidate for the legislature, 
had 190 majority. 

This final success as a legislative candidate movetl Mr. 
Thomas to attempt greater things, and he became the 
nominee of the democratic party for congress in 1839. run- 



■ PHILIP FRANCIS THOMAS I53 

ning against James Alfred Pearce, the Kent county whig, 
who had been representing the district in the national 
legislature since 183 1. The democrat's candidacy was 
at first treated as a jest by the whigs and not a few mem- 
bers of Mr. Thomas' own party, but the morning after 
election revealed the startling fact that the whigs carried 
only one county, Kent, while the congressional district 
gave Mr. Thomas a majority of 188 votes. 

Mr. Thomas was appointed a member of the committee 
on elections shortly after his entrance into the national 
legislature. The contested election cases before the com- 
mittee at that time were so engrossing that the members 
were excused from attending the meetings of the house 
and spent all their time taking testimony. While the 
services performed by the Talbot county congressman in 
this connection were important, they were not of a charac- 
ter to make for him much reputation as a parliamentarian 
or a legislator. At the close of his term as representative, 
Congressman Thomas was renominated by his party, 
but declined to enter the campaign, and Mr. Pearce, the 
whig, was elected without opposition. Mr. Thomas 
resumed his law practice, though later he accepted the 
office of judge of the land office court for the Eastern 
Shore. In 1843 he was prevailed upon to become a candi- 
date for the house of delegates, and was elected. In 
the state legislature he proved himself a powerful foe of 
those who sought to deceive the people regarding the 
state's finances. 

In 1845 Mr. Thomas once more appeared as the candidate 
for the state legislature and was elected. He served 
with such signal success in the session of 1846 that his 
name was generally mentioned as the prospective demo- 
cratic nominee for governor long before the time set for 
state conventions. At the democratic state convention, 



154 GOVERNORS OP MARYLAND 

June 24. 1847, Mr. Thomas received the nomination for 
governor. William Tilghman Goldsborough was the nomi- 
nee of the whig party. The whigs charged Mr. Thomas, 
who had been a strong advocate of pa>nng the public debt, 
with being favorable to repudiation, and hoped thereby 
to accomplish his defeat. But the democrat frankly met 
the charge and explained to the voters every feature of 
his course in matters of both internal improvement legisla- 
tion and the state's debts. The election was held on Octo- 
ber 6, 1847 ; but all the returns were not received until the 
fifth day thereafter, and then it was learned that Mr. 
Thomas had been chosen by a majority of 709 votes. 

Of the many noteworthy features of Thomas' administra- 
tion, the most important one, perhaps, was the resumption 
by the state of interest payments upon bonds. This occurred 
just about the time that Governor Pratt's term closed, 
and chief credit is due to the retiring executive, although 
Thomas had been active in working for the resumption of 
these payments. With his induction into office Governor 
Thomas started a campaign for constitutional reform, 
and in his inaugural address on January 3, 1848, he pointed 
out the defects in the seventy-year-old constitution under 
which Marylanders were then living, and stressed the need 
of calling a convention to devise a new instrument for 
government. During the closing months of his three- 
year term as governor such a convention was held, and it 
completed its work in the first year of the administration of 
Governor Thomas' successor. 

Under the new constitution there was created the office of 
comptroller, and after the close of Thomas' administration, 
in 1851, he was chosen as the first incumbent of this office. 
Early in the fifties Franklin Pierce was electe<i president 
of the United States, and immctliately after his inaugura- 
tion began his endeavors to coax Mr. Thomas into accepting 



PHILIP FRANCIS THOMAS 155 

some office under him. He first offered Mr. Thomas the port- 
folio of the navy, but the latter declined it for the reason 
that the salary was insufficient to maintain the dignity 
of the position, and he had no private income to help it out. 
President Pierce became insistent that Governor Thomas 
accept some federal patronage in the shape of an office, 
and the latter finally consented to become the collector 
of customs of the port of Baltimore, for which purpose 
he resigned as comptroller of the state in 1853. At the 
close of the Pierce administration, when President Buch- 
anan appointed a new collector of Baltimore, Mr. Thomas 
went west to try his fortune in the land of golden promise. 
He took up his residence in St. Louis and began the practice 
of law there, but was unable to become reconciled to his 
absence from Maryland. During the Mormon war President 
Buchanan invited him to become governor of the territory 
of Utah, and when he declined the president proffered him 
the post of treasurer of the United States, but again Mr. 
Thomas refused. Finally he was invited to serve as com- 
missioner of patents, and accepted the office on February 16, 
i860. In December of the same year, when Howell Cobb 
resigned the portfolio of the treasury. President Buchanan 
prevailed upon Mr. Thomas to become Cobb's successor, and 
he was secretary of the treasury for one month, entering 
the cabinet on December 10, i860, and retiring therefrom 
on January 11 1861. 

Governor Thomas' sympathies were with the south 
during the war, although he spent the years of conflict 
in the practice of his profession in Talbot county. He had 
while governor advised the legislature "to make the 
solemn declaration in advance of the unalterable deter- 
mination of this state, in case of the passage of the 'Wilmot 
proviso' or any similar scheme, to make common cause with 
the south." When the sectional conflict finally began, he 



156 GOVERNORS OP MARYLAND 

did not join the warring elements, but. like Governor 
Pratt, permitted his son to enlist in the Confederate army. 
At the close of hostilities, Mr. Thomas appeared as a can- 
didate for the state legislature in 1866, and was elected. 
This session was called upon to elect a successor to John 
A. J. Creswell in the United States senate. Governor 
Swann was chosen, but declined to serve; and the general 
assembly then elected Mr. Thomas. He had always been 
desirous of representing his state in the upper house of 
congress, and when he was chosen senator, on March 12, 
1867, his ambition seemed about to be realized. But 
congress was then dominated by the most radical of the 
south-hating republicans, and Governor Thomas was 
refused admission on the ground of "having given aid and 
comfort to the rebellion." He was constitutionally eligible, 
and the judiciarj' committee of the senate reported favor- 
ably upon his credentials, but by a vote of 27 to 20 he 
was refused permission to enter the senate chamber. 
The technical charge against the senator-elect was that 
he had supplied his son with clothing and money, and that 
son had fought with the Confederate forces. There was 
a disposition among Mr. Thomas' friends to reelect him 
United States senator, but he discountenanced the pro- 
posal and advised that a successor be chosen who would 
be acceptable. It was especially desirable at this time 
to fill the vacancy, as the trial of President Johnson was 
under way and every possible democratic vote was needed 
in his behalf. Consequently, on March 6, 1868. George 
Vickers. of Kent county, was elected to the senate and he 
took his seat in time to vote at the trial of Johnson. 

In 1874 Mr. Thomas was a successful congressional 
candidate and took his scat in 1875. just 35 years after 
the termination of his first term in the house of repre- 
sentatives. He was in the lower house of congress until 



PHILIP FRANCIS THOMAS 157 

1877, and the next year was chosen to represent Talbot 
county in the state legislature. Governor Thomas appeared 
as a candidate for the United States senate again in 1877 
and 1884, but Governor Groome and Ephraim E. Wilson 
respectively defeated him in the caucuses. He presided 
at the state convention in 1883, when Robert M. McLane 
was nominated for governor, and was chosen a member 
of the Maryland legislature in the elections of that year. 

Governor Thomas died in Baltimore, where he had gone 
for medical treatment, on October 2, 1890, in his eighty- 
first year. He was survived by the second Mrs. Thomas, 
who had been Mrs. Clintonia May, widow of Captain May 
of the United States navy, and daughter of Governor 
Wright, of Maryland. His first wife, to whom he was 
married in 1835, was Miss Sarah Maria Kerr. 



XXIX 

KNOCH LOUIS LOWE 

On the mom of the Civil War, when Maryland was torn 
asunder by the divided sentiment of her people, a native 
poet wrote a patriotic hymn which has since become almost 
a classic. His heart was \^'ith the southland; his plea was 
for the cause of the so-called cotton states; and his purpose 
was to stir the passion of Marylanders so that they would 
rally to the support of the Confederacy. In the song with 
which James R. Randall sought to rouse the people of 
Maryland he dwelt upon the glory of the state's particular 
heroes; and no more convincing proof of the esteem in which 
Governor Lowe was then held by his fellow-statesmen can 
be found, tlian that his name was one of those used by the 
poet in order to stir the people's hearts: 

Come! 't is the red dawn of the day, 

Maryland! My Maryland! 
Come! with thy panoplied array, 

Maryland! My Maryland! 
With Ringgold's spirit for the fray. 
With Wats<jn*s blood at Monterey. 
With fearless Lowe and dashing May, 

Maryland! My Maryland! 

In the story of Maryland's part in the war several men 
who had earlier served as governor cxrcupy positions of 
importance. Some of these former state executives were 
with the south; at least one was in sympathy with the 
north; but none excelled, and it is doubtful if any equalled 
Mr. Lowe in devotion to the cause which each espoused. 
Mr. Grason, the first popularly elected governor, was an 




COPYRIGHT, leoa, BY H. E. BUCHHOLZ. 



ENOCH LOUIS LOWE 159 

ardent supporter of slavery and a friend of the south. His 
successor, Francis Thomas, was one of the bitterest oppo- 
nents of the Confederacy . The next two governors — Thomas 
G. Pratt and Philip Francis Thomas — were sentimentally 
inclined toward the southern cause and, although neither 
took part in the conflict, each gave to the Confederate army 
the service of a son. Mr. Lowe, the last governor under 
the constitution of 1776, went further than any of his imme- 
diate predecessors. When the war began, he took his way 
to the southland, and there gave moral and material sup- 
port to the Confederacy. If secession was rebellion, then 
he was one of the most violent rebels who came out of 
Maryland; and the final defeat of the southern cause brought 
a sorrow to his heart which never thereafter left it. 

Enoch Louis Lowe, born August lo, 1820, was the son 
of Lieutenant Bradley S. A. and Adelaide (Vincendiere) 
Lowe; Lieutenant Lowe was a graduate of West Point 
Academy, The early years of the governor were passed at 
the beautiful family estate. The Hermitage, a tract of 1000 
acres in Frederick county upon the Monocacy river. He 
attended St. John's School in Frederick City, and later, 
at the age of thirteen, was sent abroad to complete his 
studies. He was entered at Clongowas Wood College, near 
Dublin, and subsequently studied at the Roman Catholic 
College of Stonyhurst, where he continued for three years. 
After completing his academic studies, 1839, Mr. Lowe 
made an extensive tour of Europe, and upon his return to 
America traveled about the states for a year before return- 
ing home to take up seriously the work of life. He then 
became a student of law under Judge Lynch, of Frederick, 
and in 1842, at the age of twenty-one was admitted to the 
bar. 

Although Mr. Lowe formed a law partnership with John 
W. Baughman at Frederick, and gave much thought to 



X60 GOVERNORS OP MARYLAND 

building up for himself a reputation in his chosen profes- 
sion, he did not for long keep a single eye to the law. but 
early evinced a desire for a part in the political affairs of 
his section. In 1845 he appeared as a candidate on the 
democratic ticket for the state legislature, and his campaign 
resulted in two things — his election to the house of delegates 
and the winning of more than a little reputation as an able 
stump speaker. Mr. Lowe became prominent as an advo- 
cate for constitutional reform in Marj'land and through this 
advocacy his fame had spread so far by 1850 that, when the 
democratic state convention met in that year, he was chosen 
upon a "reform" platform as the standard-bearer of his 
party. The whigs nominated for governor William B. 
Clarke, of Washington county, and the two aspirants for 
the gubernatorial chair had several public debates during 
the campaign. Mr. Lowe's personal popularity in Balti- 
more won for him the election. His majority throughout 
the state was just 1492 votes, but Baltimore — which 
gave a whig candidate for mayor a majority of 777 votes — 
gave Mr. Lowe, the democratic gubernatorial candidate, 
a majority of 2759. 

Mr. Lowe was but twenty-nine years old when nomi- 
nated for governor, although he satisfied the constitutional 
requirement by ajriving at the age of thirty before election 
day. Much was made of his youth, and upon one occasion 
a would-be detractor interrupted him while he was making 
a speech by asking : " How old are you ?" But the demo- 
cratic candidate flashed back the magnificent reply: "A 
wife and four children." He had been married. May 29, 
1844, to Miss Esther Winder Polk, daughter of Colonel 
James Polk, of Princess Anne. Mrs. Lowe bore her hus- 
band eleven children, seven of whom with the mother sur- 
vived the governor. 

Governor Lowe was inaugurated January 6, 1851. and 



ENOCH LOUIS LOWE l6l 

continued in office until January ii, 1854. His administra- 
tion, therefore, witnessed the change in the state govern- 
ment from the old constitution of 1776 to the constitution 
of 1851. At a special election in May, 1850, the people of 
Maryland had declared for a constitutional convention, and 
at an election held in the following September delegates to 
this convention were chosen. The body thus elected was 
only slightly whiggish in complexion, and the document it 
devised — during its session from November 4, 1850, to May 
13, 1 85 1 — was largely made up of compromises between the 
two opposing elements. The greatest gain for the people 
was that the constitution of 1776, burdened with amend- 
ment upon amendment, was superseded by a governmental 
document that at least expressed clearly the things that it 
treated. Before the proposed constitution could be fully 
digested by the people, it was placed before them for ratifi- 
cation, and was given a small majority at a special election 
on June 4, 1851. 

During Governor Lowe's administration the state fully 
recovered from the financial depression that had resulted 
some years earlier in the advocacy of repudiation of pub- 
lic debts. Governor Thomas, who preceded Mr. Lowe, had 
warned the people against reducing the amount of taxa- 
tion, and declared that such a reduction, despite the cheer- 
ful outlook, would be a dangerous step. But Governor 
Lowe boldly advised the very thing against which Mr. 
Thomas had warned, and in 1853 the people of Maryland were 
required to pay but 15 cents on the $100, whereas in the 
several years prior thereto the annual tax rate for the state 
had been 25 cents. Another notable feature of the Lowe 
administration was the completion of the Baltimore and 
Ohio Railroad to the Ohio river, which, according to the 
original plans of the promoters, was to have been the 
western terminus of the line. 



X6a GOVERNORS OF MAkVI.AN'D 

During the ailminislratiun ol Mr. Lowe. General Kossuth, 
the Hungarian patriot, visited America and was the guest 
of Maryland's chief magistrate for several days. Although 
Mr. Lowe was heartily in sympath\ ^^^th the foreigner and 
the cause he represented, he was unable to accord either 
any aid from the state government. Mr. Lowe was named 
as minister extraordinary and plenipotentiary to China 
by President Pierce, but declined the post. 

After the close of his administration Mr. Lowe assumed 
a much more prominent r61e in national politics than he 
had taken before his governorship. He became one of 
the great figures among those who took up the cause of 
the south, not for office nor for personal advantage, but 
solely because of a love for the land and the people south of 
the Mason and Dixon Line. He helped to win for Buchanan 
the democratic nomination for president in 1856, and was 
active in the campaign which resulted in Buchanan's 
election. Mr. Lowe was active in the presidential cam- 
paign of i860, supporting John C. Breckinridge even more 
heartil) than he had supported Buchanan. 

When the war began, Mr. Lowe remained in Baltimore 
long enough to serve the south tt) the fullest extent of his 
ability in his native state. He was a man without fear, 
and what he did, he did openly. While others tried to 
evade answering the question as to their allegiance, Gover- 
nor Lowe stood up fearlessly for the cause of the south. 
Later he went to Virginia, where he became the guest of 
honor of the legislature of the Old Dominion. His acidress 
delivered before the legislature was regarded by that body 
as of sufficient moment to warrant its publication and dis- 
tribution by the state. 

Governor Lowe wanted Maryland to secede, and he 
believed that the state would ultimately join the Confed- 
eracy. "God knows," he declared, "Marylanders love the 



ENOCH LOUIS LOWE 163 

the sunny south as dearly as any son of the Palmetto State. 
They idolize the chivalric honor, the stern and refined idea 
of free government, the social dignity and conservatism 
which characterize the southern mind and heart, as enthusi- 
astically as those of their southern brethren who were born 
where the snows never fall." He was bitter in his denun- 
ciations of Mr. Hicks who "had purposely left her [Mary- 
land] in a defenseless condition, in order that he might with- 
out peril to himself deliver her up at the suitable time to be 
crucified and receive his thirty pieces of silver as the price 
of his unspeakable treachery." 

Mr. Lowe spent the greater part of his voluntary exile 
in the south in Augusta and in Milledgeville, Georgia. After 
the war Governor Lowe returned to Maryland, where he 
lived from November, 1865, until May, 1866, when he moved 
with his family to New York. It was not only the iron- 
clad oath — which his self-respect would not permit him to 
take — that sent Mr. Lowe out of his native state; but 
Baltimore at that time did not seem to offer him the means 
of supporting his large family by his professional work in 
the way that he was accustomed to providing for it. He 
had lost heavily through the war, and in Brooklyn, where 
he was to take up his residence, he saw a large enough field 
for practice to insure him a considerable income. His 
leaving Baltimore with his family to go to a strange city is 
but another evidence of the wonderful courage of the man. 

For some time after removing to New York, Mr. Lowe 
was in much demand as a lecturer. He was several times 
solicited to enter the political circles of the Empire state. 
Except for his brief activity in the Hancock-Garfield cam- 
paign, however, he remained in comparative retirement. 
He was for a while counsel of the Erie Railroad Company, 
but upon the death of James Fiske this relationship was 
dissolved. 



164 GOVERNORS OP MARYLAND 

A newspaper correspondent, writing from Brooklyn at 
the time of Governor Lowe's death, asserted that he had 
"lived a very retired Hfe, and outside of the immediate circle 
of his family friends was hardly ever seen or heard of. It 
was often regretted here that Mr. Lowe did not take the 
public place his abilities and career warranted, but he 
seemed to care only for the peace and quiet of his family 
and home, and thus occupied himself out of the sight and 
bustle of the busy world." Governor Lowe died on August 
23, 1892, at St. Mary's Hospital, where he had undergone 
an operation which proved unsuccessful. His body was 
removed to Frederick, and was privately interred on August 
25, Governor Lowe having requested that no funeral sermon 
be preached at his burial. 



TH A- ATKINS LIGON' 

I A ; I 1 S .- X 



XXX 

THOMAS WATKINS LIGON 

Although the contemporaries of a historical personage 
cannot arbitrarily impose upon posterity their own estimates 
of his character, they generally can shape the opinions of 
other men by erecting historical guideposts which point in 
the direction of their own opinion. Here, then, is a key to 
the enigma of Governor Ligon's position in the hall of fame 
of Maryland. In the days of his governorship the body 
politic had forgotten that it ever had been virtuous and 
seemed fairly to glory in its vileness. To teach an infant 
nation to be pure in its political affairs would have been mere 
child's play compared to the task of reforming the state's 
dominant political force, or even of convicting it of wicked- 
ness. Yet Mr. Ligon fearlessly undertook this labor, and 
for this his glory should have been great. But he was a man 
without the frills and ruffles of the conventional type of 
early state executives, and his homespun methods proved 
offensive to many of his contemporaries. 

Thomas Watkins Ligon is one of the several native Virgin- 
ians who have served Maryland as governor. The son of 
Thomas D. Ligon, and the grandson on his maternal side 
of Col. Thomas Watkins, of Revolutionary fame, he was 
born in 1812 in Prince Edward county, Virginia. His 
father, a farmer, died when the governor was a lad, and 
upon the mother devolved the responsibility of providing 
for her two sons. After completing his primary studies, 
Thomas Ligon was sent to Hampden-Sidney College, from 
which he was graduated with distinction, He then entered 



l66 GOVERNORS OP MARYLAND 

the University of Virginia and later attended Yale Law 
School, where he prepared for the profession which he had 
determined to pursue. Upon his return to Virginia, he 
was examined for admission to the bar and authorized to 
practice law; but the home county of Mr. Ligon did not 
present many inducements for an ambitious lawyer, and 
the young man began to look about for a promising town 
in which to open an office. In 1 833 , at the age of twenty-one, 
he came to Baltimore, where in a very modest way he made it 
known that he was bent upon practicing law and desired 
clients. 

In 1840 Thomas Ligon was married to Miss Sallie Dorsey, 
of that portion of Baltimore county which later was in- 
cluded in Howard county, and thereafter he had his 
residence at EUicott's Mill — now known as Ellicott City — 
although he continued his law practice in Baltimore. Mr. 
Ligon's wife was a daughter of Charles Worthington Dorsey, 
and after her death the governor was married to Mary 
Tolly Dorsey, another daughter of the Marylander, and a 
sister to the first Mrs. Ligon. Several years after his first 
marriage Mr. Ligon made his initial appearance as an otfice- 
seeker. He had been invited in 1841 to accept the nomina- 
tion for member of the legislature, but declined the honor. 
Two years later, however, he consented to become a candi- 
date and was elected. Mr. Ligon's success prompted his 
fellow-democrats to nominate him in 1844 as the party's 
candidate for congress, to which body he was elected by 
a fair majority, which was somewhat increased two years 
later when he appeared for reelection. He was a member 
of the twenty-ninth and thirtieth congresses, serving from 
December 1, 1845, to March 3, 1849. 

Early in the fifties there came into being the know- 
nothing, party which, though short-lived, was very strong 
in Marj'land. In the gubernatorial campaign of 1853 the 



THOMAS WATKINS LIGON 167 

know-nothing party nominated Richard J. -Bowie, of Mont- 
gomery county; the democrats named as standard-bearer 
ex-Congressman Ligon. The election was bitterly con- 
tested and, although Mr. Ligon was chosen by a small 
majority, the opponents of the democrats were given a con- 
siderable majority in both the state senate and the house 
of delegates. When Mr. Ligon, therefore, was inaugurated 
governor of Maryland, on January ii, 1854, he was well 
aware of the fact that the executive department, if it pur- 
sued a partisan course, would be pitted against the legisla- 
tive branch of the government. Knowing, as he did, the 
great odds against him upon a partisan vote, and also 
realizing how bitterly the know-nothing party, with its aim 
at secrecy, would defend its position against any hostile 
demonstration from the almost helpless state executive, 
the new governor nevertheless, almost immediately after 
his assumption of the executive duties, began his war upon 
his political enemies. 

The antagonism of Governor Ligon to the know-nothing 
party did not bear immediate fruit. In the state election of 
1855 — the year following his inauguration — the know- 
nothing candidates won a complete victory, and for several 
years thereafter they ruled the state, though in much the 
same way that bandits govern a wild or desert country. 
In time, however, the labor of Governor Ligon began to 
show results, and a reform movement, which had as its 
object the casting off of the yoke of ruffian rule, made its 
appearance, and once more political affairs in the state were 
separated from crime. When Governor Ligon in his message 
of January, 1856, called the attention of the legislature to the 
existence of a secret political organization founded upon 
religious prejudice, and warned them of the dangers of poli- 
tics based on race or sect, the general assembly appointed 
a committee to investigate the charges. Although the 



l68 GOVERNORS OP MARYLAND 

majority of this committee refused to serve, because it 
thought such an investigation would be an insult to the 
intelligence of a large majority of the people, the minority 
rei)orted : " That there arose in this state and country' within 
the last two or three years a political society * * * binding 
its members by forms of oaths to proscribe from all offices 
by their votes or otherwise, if possessed of political power, 
all persons not of native birth, and all members of the 
Catholic religion." 

The stronghold of the know-nothing party was in Balti- 
more, where for several years the members of this organi- 
zation ran things in a reckless way. The voters of other 
political faith were intimidated, waylaid, and even killed, 
so that election day became a time for ruthan warfare. At 
the presidential election of 1856, eight men were killed or 
mortally wounded, while more than 250 people were reported 
wounded. And as an indication of the extent to which 
ruffianism succeeded in disfranchising by force those hold- 
ing opposite views, the sworn returns in the Baltimore 
election of 1857 record 11,896 know-nothing votes to 
2830 democratic ballots, or a majority of 9066; whereas 
in the previous election for mayor the know-nothing party 
had been given a majority of but 1567 ballots. 

The know-nothing leaders had over-estimated their ability 
to block the governor's endeavors to free the common- 
wealth from its burden of ruffianism. They were able 
to oppose Mr. Ligon in the legislature, and never thought 
that he would step outside of the conventional office of chief 
magistrate and assume the position of actual executive of 
the entire state. The outcome of the city election of Balti- 
more in 1857 caused Governor Ligon much uneasiness 
regarding the state election which was to be held shortly 
thereafter. He went to Baltimore, and on October 27, 
1857, wrote Mayor Swann a letter inviting him to cooperate 



THOMAS WATKINS LIGON 169 

with the governor in endeavoring to have the approaching 
election kept free of the disgrace and rowdyism which had 
characterized the several preceding ones. But Mr. Swann 
was not altogether pleased with the governor's move toward 
interference and replied that as mayor of Baltimore he 
held his commission directly from the people, and was 
accountable to them for the manner in which he discharged 
his trust. 

In his determination that the election should be fair, 
Governor Ligon then issued a proclamation in which he 
announced that the city of Baltimore would be placed 
under military guard on the approaching election day. 
This announcement caused great excitement, and imme- 
diately efforts were made to have the proclamation recalled. 
The know-nothing leaders advised Mr. Ligon that arrange- 
ments would be made for ample police service in the city 
on election day. Upon this the governor was persuaded 
to issue another proclamation in which he declared that 
he did not contemplate the use upon election day of the 
military force which he had ordered enrolled and organized. 
The truth, however, is that the arrangements were by no 
means adequate, and the election was but a repetition of 
its predecessors. The same overwhelming know-nothing 
majority was won by force of fists and firearms, and Mr. 
Hicks, the know-nothing nominee for governor, was elected. 

When the legislature convened at Annapolis, Governor 
Ligon had the boldness to write in his annual message: "I 
record my deliberate opinion that the election was fraudu- 
lently conducted; that in the exclusion of thousands of 
people from the polls, there has been no expression of the 
popular will, and that the whole of the returns from that 
city are vicious, without a decent claim to official recogni- 
tion anywhere, and in all their character, a gross insult to 
our institutions and laws, and a most offensive mockery 



I70 GOVERNORS OP MARYLAND 

of the great principle of political independence and popu- 
lar suffrage." The legislature declared the message an 
insult to its highly honorable members and voted to refuse 
to receive it; and a short while thereafter, or on January 13, 
1858, Governor Ligon surrendered the executive office to 
Mr. Hicks, and retired to his Howard county estate of Chat- 
ham. 

For the remaining years of his life Mr. Ligon lived in retire- 
ment, taking no active part in politics. He farmed his 
land and passed his days in peaceable meditation, and 
lived to see the seed he had sown spring up in a refonnation 
of the political affairs of the state and of Baltimore city. 
He did not resume his law practice in Baltimore, which had 
been discontinued at the time of his election in 1853, but 
occasionally he emerged from his farmer life to take part in 
the deliberations of certain boards concerned in the manage- 
ment of charitable and educational institutions, in a number 
of which he was interested. He died on January 12, 1881. 
and was buried on January 14 from St. John's Protestant 
Episcopal Church, near Ellicott City. No sermon was 
preached, nor were there any flowers or other display, all 
ostentation being distasteful to Mr. Ligon, as evidenced in 
his life, which was marked by severe simplicity, both as a 
public official and as a private citizen. 



XXXI 

THOMAS HOLLIDAY HICKS 

When considering the Civil War period of Maryland 
history, before an attempt is made to draw conclusions as to 
the worth of this public official or of that, full account must 
be taken of the peculiar conditions which existed in the 
Old Line state in ante-bellum days and during the first 
months of the conflict. Part of the population was prepared 
to support the southern cause, should the problems which 
were agitating the nation be brought to an issue of arms, 
and an equal number of Marylanders were unconditionally 
with the north. Both of these elements were, according 
to their conscience, in the right, and Maryland has honored 
each alike for the course which it pursued. Francis Thomas, 
who served his state as chief magistrate, responded to the 
attack on Fort Sumter by raising a regiment of 3000 soldiers 
and ofifering its service to Lincoln. On the other hand 
Enoch Louis Lowe, who also served as governor, openly 
advocated that Maryland should secede and join the Con- 
federacy. Had Francis Thomas been governor of Maryland 
in 1 86 1, the state might have known the sway of a second 
Parson Brownlow;or had Mr. Lowe been chief magistrate, 
then Governor Letcher, of Virginia, would possibly have 
had an official co-laborer for secession in the borderland. 
But Mr. Hicks, who at best was a temporizer, was state 
executive. 

In approaching Hick's life the bitterness with which 
certain of his contemporaries judged his course must not 
influence too greatly the student's judgment; nor must the 
excessive flattery which, for obvious reasons, was poured 



173 GOVERNORS OP MARYLAND 

forth by northern orators at the time of his death be 
accepted at its face value. Mr. Hicks was governor of Mary- 
laml during the most critical days of the state's history and 
he hail, in a greater measure than was ever accorded another 
thief magistrate of the state, an opportunity to engrave 
in glorious and indelible letters his name upon the com- 
monwealth's history as well as upon that of the nation at 
large. But, at a time when to falter was to blunder fatally, 
Hicks faltered. Although his early sentiments seemed 
favorable to secession, it is possible that at the outbreak 
of the war he was opposed to the cause of the south ; never- 
theless, when called upon to decide on which side be stood, 
Hicks revealed what might be termed a border allegiance, 
and permitted the militia of the federal government to 
assume the r61e of converting him, by force, into a 
unionist. Posterity has less cause to find fault with him 
for this than he himself might have had to regret his action. 
If he was as strongly unionist as he later professed, then 
by having uttered the same sentiments before Butler came 
to Baltimore that he did after the arrival of that Union 
general, he might have vied with Mr. Andrew, of Massa- 
chusetts, for the place of first honor among the Union " war 
governors." 

Thomas Holliday Hicks was almost sixty years of age 
when he became governor. He was bom on September 2, 
1798. the eldest boy in the large family reared by Henry 
C. and Mary (Sewell) Hicks, who lived on a farm in Dor- 
chester county several miles from East New Market. Hicks 
attended a subscription school in the neighborhood of his 
home until he had reached an age when he desired to go out 
into the world for himself . He maile his initial appearance 
as a public official in the humble capacity of town constable. 
Hut that he filled this position satisfactorily would seem 
to receive certification from the fact that in 1824, at the age 



THOMAS HOLLIDAY HICKS I73 

of twenty-five, Mr. Hicks w?s elected sheriff of his county. 
Later he purchased a farm on the Choptank river and sub- 
sequently abandoned the plow and removed to the southern 
part of the county, where, in 1833, he entered upon a mer- 
cantile career at Vienna. 

Mr. Hicks was a member of the 1836 senatorial electoral 
college — that famous body made up of the so-called "glori- 
ous 19 Van Buren electors" and 21 whigs — he, of course, 
being among the latter. In the same year he was chosen a 
miember of the general assembly; and the legislature, in 

1837, named him and Mr. Pratt as members of the last 
governor's council in Maryland. In the next year, when 
the council was abolished by the reform act, Mr. Hicks was 
appointed register of wills for Dorchester county. From 

1838, when he became register, until 185 1, when under the 
new constitution the office was made elective, he served by 
successive appointments in this position. In 1850 he was 
one of the representatives from Dorchester county to the 
constitutional convention which was to devise a new 
form of government for the commonwealth. He again 
assumed the duties of register of wills in 1855, and con- 
tinued in the office until his election as governor. 

Mr. Hicks was the American or know-nothing candidate 
for governor in 1857. The democrats nominated as their 
standard-bearer John C. Groome. Under the arbitrary 
rule of the know-nothings, however, the democratic can- 
didate had little chance of success, since Baltimore was 
overwhelmingly against him. Although Ligon had been 
assured that everything would be done to prevent any 
conflict between the voters, the election was but a repetition 
of the earlier disgraceful affair when municipal officers were 
chosen. And not only did the know-nothing party carry 
the city for Hicks, but the state also gave him a majority, 
and the general assembly, as a result of the election, was 
strongly know-nothing. 



174 GOVERNORS OP MARYLAND 

Mr Huks became ^<)\cmor on January 13, 1858. His 
administration witnessed the periotl of preparation for the 
Civil War and the beginning of that conflict; and his own 
service to the state is remembered chiefly in so far as Mary- 
land affairs were affected by the seccession movement. Had 
Governor Hicks sincerely and fearlessly opposed secession, 
not even the southern historian could find fault with his 
an ti -secession sentiments; or had he been favorable to the 
south, he would have needed no apologies for his choice. 
The questions, however, arise — and upon their solution must 
<lepend the regard in which Marylandets generally will 
hold Mr. Hicks — whether his professions throughout were 
insincere and if, at the crucial moment, he was guilty 
of cowardice, no matter what his real convictions. Al- 
though he was opposed to any move which would precip- 
itate the nation into a sectional conflict, he gave expression 
on December 6, i860, in a letter to a Prince George's coun- 
tian, to the following secessionist sentiments: "U the 
Union must be dissolved let it be done calmly, deliberately 
and after full reflection on the part of the united south. 
* ♦ * After allowing a reasonable time for action on the 
part of the northern states, if they shall neglect or refuse to 
observe the plain requirements of the constitution, then, 
in my judgment, we shall be fully warranted in demanding a 
division of the country." Governor Hicks was in Baltimore 
when the Massachusetts troops, passing througli the city 
on April 19, 1 86 1, were set upon by the people of the city. 
After the close of that day of violence and bloodshed the 
state executive and Mayor Brown of Baltimore were visited 
by Marshal Kane and ex-Govemor Lowe, who wished to 
have the railroad bridges leading into Baltimore bumetl, 
that they might thereby prevent a repetition of the day's 
tragedy, should the federal government seek to send the 
several thousand troops then reported near Cockeysville 
tliruugh Baltimore. 



THOMAS HOLLIDAY HICKS 175 

Governor Hicks, Lowe recorded in his report of the 
interview, said: " 'Well, I suppose it must be done,' or 
words of precisely that import, to which the mayor replied, 
substantially: 'Governor, I have no authority to act be- 
yond the city limits, and can do nothing in this matter 
except by your direction. Shall the bridges be destroyed?' 
Governor Hicks emphatically and distinctly replied in the 
affirmative." 

But in later days, when Governor Hicks wished to clear 
himself of the charge of having countenanced a burning of 
the bridges, he denied absolutely the testimony of Lowe, 
Kane and Mayor Brown, and sought to make himself out a 
good and unconditional Union man. And yet he left proof of 
how closely he approached an approval of secession, for in 
his communication to Lincoln, April 22, 1861, he wrote: "I 
feel it my duty most respectfully to advise you that no 
more troops be ordered or allowed to pass through Maryland, 
and that the troops now off Annapolis be sent elsewhere; 
and I most respectfully urge that a truce be offered by you 
so that the effusion of blood may be prevented. I respect- 
fully suggest that Lord Lyons be requested to act as mediator 
between the contending parties of our country." 

This was in April, 1 861, and in October, 1863, Mr. Hicks, 
in a letter to Governor Bradford could find the courage to 
pen the words: "My God! How unfortunate it is that men 
in high places should say one thing one day and another the 
next day. * * * Oh! what unfortunate times we have 
fallen on, and yet amid our perplexity we must not relax 
our efforts to do good. I feel sometimes like giving it up, 
but then I know it is what these unprincipled men desire 
and I determine anew that, if fall I must, I will fall fighting 
for the right. I publicly and privately proclaim myself for 
an emancipationist. I am honestly. My judgment is so 
• — policy leads to it. I am in favor of putting the slaves in 



176 GOVERNORS OP MARYLAND 

the army, but cannot approve of their mode of doing it. I 
am in favor of letting everything but principle go to save the 
Union by crushing out the accursed rebellion that brought 
all our national and individual woes upon us." And this 
from a man who, according to Ex-Governor Lowe, "went 
into Monument Square on the afternoon of the memorable 
nineteenth of April last [1861]. while the blood of the heroic 
youths of Baltimore * * ♦ was still fresh upon the pave- 
ments, and there called God to witness his loyalty to the 
south, and prayed that his right arm might rot from the 
socket if he ever raised it against his southern brethren." 
The members of the legislature, and influential men in 
the state generally, requested Governor Hicks time and time 
again to call the legislature in extra session that the state 
might go on record as opposed to secession, but still ilis- 
satisfied with the attitude of the north toward the southern 
states. After the encounter between the people of Balti- 
more and the Massachusetts troops Governor Hicks called 
a special session of the legislature at Annapolis, but later 
changed the place of meeting to Frederick. In an address 
to the people of Maryland, this legislature, declared: "We 
cannot but know that a large proportion of the citizens of 
Marj'land have been induced to believe that there is a prob- 
ability that our deliberations may result in the passage of 
some measure committing this state to secession. It is, 
therefore, our duty to declare that all such fears are with- 
out just foundation. We know that we have no consti- 
tutional authority to take such action. You need not 
fear that there is a possibility that we will do so." And 
this address was unanimously adopted. Nevertheless, the 
federal (.government, without opposition or protest from Mr. 
Hirks, assumed an attitude toward Maryland's general 
as.stinbly similar to that which it might have assumed toward 
the legislature of Mississippi. Simon Cameron, Lincoln's 



THOMAS HOLLIDAY HICKS 177 

secretary of war, wrote on September ii, 1861, that "the 
passage of any act of secession by the legislature of Mary- 
land must be prevented. If necessary, all or any part of 
the members must be arrested." And every member or 
employee of the legislature who was not heart and soul with 
every feature of the republican administration was arrested. 
The administration of Governor Hicks came to a close 
on January 8, 1862, when Mr. Bradford was inaugurated. 
The new executive appointed his predecessor United States 
senator to fill the unexpired term of James Alfred Pearce, 
and Mr. Hicks was later elected by the legislature to fill 
the senatorial term which expired March 8, 1867. Before 
he had completed the term to which he was elected, how- 
ever, he died, at the Metropolitan Hotel, Washington, 
February 13, 1865. He had been three times married — 
first to Miss Anna Thompson, of Dorchester county; his 
second wife was Miss Leah Raleigh, of the same county; and 
the third Mrs. Hicks, who survived her husband, had been 
Mrs. Mary Wilcox, the widow of Hicks' cousin. The funeral 
of Senator Hicks was attended by a host of public officials. 
President Lincoln and his cabinet, the members of the 
supreme court, Governor Bradford of Maryland and Mayor 
Chapman of Baltimore — both accompanied by delegations, 
and a large number of senators and representatives 
attended the services held in the capitol at Washington. 
The body was first placed in a vault in the national capital, 
but later it was interred at the old Hicks farm in Dorchester 
county, and finally removed to Cambridge Cemetery, where 
the state erected a monument over the remains in 1868. 



XXXII 

AUGUSTUS W. BRADFORD 

While two separate gubernatorial administrations were 
experienced by the people of Maryland during the con- 
flict between the north and south. Mr. Bradford is by 
common consent accepted as the war-governor. The 
greater portion of Mr. Hicks' governorship was passed in 
the stormy days immediately preceding the conflict, al- 
though the tail-end of his term reached into the opening 
months of the war. But when Mr. Bradford came into office 
the struggle between the north and the slave states had 
settled down to a business basis. The harmless spectacle 
of earlier petty encounters had given place to the grim 
realities of war and with the progress of hostilities there 
was, naturally, a counter-advance toward positiveness in 
the political affairs of the state. The governmental ma- 
chinery, adapted to its newer requirements, was no longer 
run experimentally as it had been in the da>-s of Gov- 
ernor Hicks, but a Union governor and a Union legislature 
were seeking to run the affairs of the commonwealth in a 
way that would stress the political and soften the military 
aspect of government in Maryland. For four years Mr. 
Bradford governed Maryland, and the one feature of his 
administration which stands out in strongest relief is the 
courage with which he upheld the dignity of the state's gov- 
ernment. In times such as those between 1861 and 1865, 
and in a commonwealth like Mar>'land, upon the border- 
land of conflict, there was bound to occur almost constantly 
friction between the military forces representing the United 
States and the political forces representing the authority 



AUGUSTUS WILLIAMSON BRADFORD 
1862-1866 




COPYRIGHT, 190a, BY H. E. BUCHHOLZ. 



AUGUSTUS W. BRADFORD 179 

of the commonwealth. Although there are incidents in the 
public career of Maryland's war governor which invite crit- 
icism, still there is no denying that for the particular needs 
of his time he was admirably equipped to direct state affairs. 

Augustus Williamson Bradford was born at Belair, Har- 
ford county, January 9, 1806, the son of Samuel and Jane 
(Bond) Bradford. He received his elementary training at 
the academy conducted by Rev. Reuben H. Davis in his 
home town, and it is probable that during the early years of 
his school life he was attracted to the profession of civil 
engineering. At all events, he soon showed a liking for cer- 
tain branches of this calling, and before finally entering upon 
a legal profession he found employment for a time as sur- 
veyor. Shortly after completing the courses at the Belair 
Academy, Mr. Bradford came to Baltimore to pursue his 
studies at St. Mary's College, from which he was graduated 
in 1824. He then returned to his native town, where he 
began to study law, and in 1826 was authorized to practice 
at the bar of Maryland. During the first years of his career 
as an attorney he continued a resident of Harford county, 
but as his ability developed with experience and he came 
to realize how necessarily limited was the field afforded by 
the little village of Belair, he determined to cast his lot in a 
more promising territory and turned his face toward the 
city in which he had for several years been a student. Mr. 
Bradford came to Baltimore in 1831, and the next 50 years 
of his life were passed in the Maryland metropolis. 

Shortly after his coming to Baltimore Mr. Bradford 
became interested in the whig party, and for some years he 
gave that political organization a considerable portion of 
his time. In the presidential campaign of 1844 he was a 
warm supporter of Henry Clay, being a presidential elector 
for the Kentuckian. The defeat of his hero cooled his polit- 
ical ardor, and for some time thereafter he retired from 



l8o GOVERNORS OP MARYLAND 

politics, refusing to go upon the stump and abstaining from 
attendance upon political meetings. During this season of 
retirement Mr. Bradford gave himself over to two pursuits — 
his development as a lawyer and the building of a home. 
As a lawyer he came to occupy a fair but not distinguished 
position in his profession. He was, however, a speaker of 
no mean ability, and he possessed a broad knowledge of 
law. He had married, in 1835, Miss Elizabeth Kell, daughter 
of Judge Thomas Kell, of Baltimore; and in the home which 
the Bradfords set up in Baltimore the governor passed the 
pleasantcst days of his life. In 1845 Governor Pratt ap- 
pointed Mr. Bradford clerk of Baltimore county, which 
position he retained for the next six years. But from 1851 
to 1 86 1 he did not take much part in public affairs. 

Just before the outbreak of the war there were held in 
various parts of the country a number of conferences which 
had as their purpose a settlement of the differences between 
north and south without a resort to secession or arms. 
To the peace conference held in Washington in the spring 
of 1861 Mr. Bradford was sent by Governor Hicks as a rep- 
resentative of Maryland, and his speech there in favor of 
the Union doubtless won for him the gubernatorial nomina- 
tion ; for when the union party was formed in Maryland in 
the following summer it named Mr. Bradford as candidate 
for chief magistrate of the state. The democrats nominated 
Gen. Benjamin C. Howard. 

The manner of Bradford's election is perhaps the least 
satisfactory feature of his entire career, private and public. 
That he had aught to do with the way in which the cam- 
paign was managed is doubtful, but that he had knowledge 
of the way in which his success had been brought about is 
past doubting. The only fault to be found with him, there- 
fore, is his pretension that he had been chosen by the free 
vote of the people. It need not be assumed that without 



AUGUSTUS W. BRADFORD l8l 

the aid of the military he would have been defeated. The 
only vital fact, as far as the moral aspect of the thing is con- 
cerned, is that an enormous proportion of his vote was secured 
by intimidation and through the unlawful use of soldiery. 
The extent of this proportion must, of course, always remain 
an unknown quantity. A number of precautions were 
taken by the federal administration and its representatives 
stationed in Maryland to prevent the people from voting for 
any candidates but those on the union ticket at this 
election. The military officials had been authorized to 
suspend the habeas corpus and to arrest and hold in con- 
finement till after the election those who fell under sus- 
picion. And by this course the union gubernatorial 
candidate received in Baltimore 17,922 votes on Novem- 
ber 6, 1 86 1, while General Howard was credited with 
only 3347. Nevertheless, when Mr. Bradford assumed 
office, January 8, 1862, he declared that the spectacle of his 
inauguration seemed "to call to mind the value and suc- 
cess of republican institutions in recognizing, as it were, 
the power of the people peacefully to select and inaugurate 
their political rulers by the simple expression of the voice 
of the majority." 

The opening of his administration inaugurated a marked 
change in the way that affairs were conducted in Maryland. 
The governor, beginning with his inaugural, condemned 
severely the creed of secession and the authors of that 
creed. He used all his energy in an untiring and unceasing 
endeavor to have Maryland and Baltimore support with 
both money and volunteers the arm of the federal govern- 
ment. But he opposed with courage the efforts of the mili- 
tary to continue those practices in Maryland by which he 
himself had been carried into office. He also assumed the 
championship in Maryland of those opposed to slavery, 
although at no time did he display the violent reason — 



l8a GOVERNORS OP MARYLAND 

or unreason — of abolitionism. He declared that slavery 
was wrong morally, but he declared with pT' phasis 

that it was unwise economically. Out of hi> ion, to 

some extent, grew the constitutional convention of 1864, 
which undertook to frame a new constitution for Maryland. 
The document devised by the convention of 1864 accom- 
plished the emancipation of the negro and the disfranchise- 
ment of all who fought for or aided the confederacy. It 
was, however, in some respects an unsatisfactory instru- 
ment, due to the manner in which it was produced and also 
to the general excitement of the times. 

It was in 1863 that Governor Bradford had his most 
serious disagreement with the military forces in Mar>'land. 
This was his notorious encounter with Major-General 
Schenck. who had issued an order that the military officers 
were to be on hand at the election to arrest suspicious per- 
sons. "This extraordinary order." Bradford declared in a 
proclamation under date of November a, 1863, "has not 
only been issued without any notice to or consultation with 
the constituted authorities of the state, but at a time and 
under circumstances when the condition of the state and 
the character of the candidates are such as to preclude the 
idea that the result of that election can in any way endanger 
either the safety of the government or the peace of the 
community," and he announced fearlessly that "it is the 
judgment of the judges of election alone, founded upon the 
provisions of the constitution and the laws of the state, 
that must determine the right to vote of any person offering 
himself for that purpose. " The presumption of a mere 
state governor countermanding by proclamation the orders 
of a military commander came as a bomb in the camp of 
General Schenck. 

During Governor Bradford's administration Baltimore 
was several times threatened by invasion by the Con fed- 



AUGUSTUS W, BRADFORD 183 

erates. On the last of these occasions Mr. Bradford's 
mansion was destroyed. The governor was not at home 
and so escaped arrest, or whatever would have been the 
outcome of an encounter between him and the Confederates. 
His beautiful mansion, however, his furniture and his entire 
library were given to the flames. At the election under the 
constitution of 1864, Thomas Swann was chosen governor. 
He took the oath of office and read his inaugural address on 
January ii, 1865, thus qualifying himself as Bradford's 
successor, although he did not become governor de facto 
until January 10, 1866, when Mr. Bradford's term expired. 
In 1867 President Johnson appointed Mr. Bradford sur- 
veyor of the port of Baltimore, but when General Grant was 
inaugurated president in 1869 he removed him from the 
surveyor's ofhce. Three years later, however, when Grant 
was repairing his political fences preliminary to his appear- 
ance for reelection, he announced the nomination of Mr. 
Bradford, without the latter's consent or knowledge, for 
the office of appraiser-general in the Baltimore custom- 
house. But the ex-governor promptly and emphatically 
refused to consider the appointment, declaring that the 
position called for one who had had experience as a mer- 
chant, which he lacked. "To accept would make me entirely 
dependent upon deputies and assistants, which would be 
utterly repugnant to my notions of official qualification or 
responsibility." The governor's last appearance in public 
life was as presidential elector on the Greeley ticket in 1872. 
He held no office after his removal as surveyor in 1869, but 
devoted his time to his family and his practice during the 
closing years of his life. He died in the city of Baltimore 
March i, 1 881, in the seventy-sixth year of his life. 



THOMAS SWANN 

Four times has the Old Dominion supplied a man for 
Mar^iand's executive mansion, and each lime it would 
appear the native son of Virginia made more than an 
ordinary record in the history of the state of his adoption. 
Mercer, who had seen service as soldier and legislator be- 
fore he left his native state to try his fortunes in Maryland, 
won the distinction of being the first republican governor 
elected under the constitution of 1776. Ligon, after him, 
set a remarkable example of a state executive possessed 
of absolute fearlessness, who did not hesitate to make war 
not only on the legislature, but upon the municipal officials 
of Baltimore as well. The final of the four Virginians, Lloyd 
Lowndes, was bom in Clarksburg, which is now in West 
Virginia. So far he has been the only republican governor 
elected in Maryland since the close of the Civil War. But 
of the Virginians who have crossed the Potomac to vnn 
their way to Maryland's executive mansion, none pre- 
sented a more picturesque personality nor made a more 
lasting impression upon the state than he, who in point 
of time, is third — Thomas Swann. He came to the Old 
Line state to engage in business, and under his presidency 
the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad obtained a new lease on 
life, and its lines were carried westward over rivers and 
under mountains to new and rich fields. He deserted the 
railway office to enter politics, and as mayor of Baltimore 
accomplished more for the city's beauty and the citizens' 
convenience than any city executive before or after him. 
He became governor at a lime when the majority of voters 



THOMAS SWANN 
I 866-1 869 




COPYRIGHT. 1908, BY H. E. BUCHHOLZ. 



THOMAS SWANN 185 

had been deprived of the ballot, and he promptly unloosed 
the shackles that a military-reinforced minority had riveted 
upon the majority. Finally, he sacrificed his own dearest 
ambition — to be United States senator — in order that he 
he might save from hazard of undoing the labors which he 
had performed on the people's behalf. 

Thomas Swann was born in Alexandria, Virginia, in 1805 
or 1806. He would never tell the exact date of his birth, but 
a close relative asserted at the time of his death that he 
was then seventy-seven. Governor Swann came of one of 
the very first families of the Old Dominion. His father, 
also Thomas Swann, was a lawyer of considerable promi- 
nence, practicing chiefly in Washington, where he filled the 
office of United States attorney for the District of Columbia. 
Mrs. Swann, the governor's mother, had been Miss Jane 
Byrd Page, a descendant of the famous William Byrd, 
at one time receiver-general of the colonies. The youth of 
Thomas Swann, Jr., was passed among such surroundings 
as would inculcate into a receptive mind all the polish and 
refinement of manners that characterized the official circles 
at the national capital. He was entered at Columbian 
College, Washington, and subsequently attended the Uni- 
versity of Virginia. Upon the completion of his college 
career, he entered his father's office as a law student, and 
there fitted himself for the legal profession. When Presi- 
dent Jackson appointed the United States commission to 
Naples, Mr. Swann was chosen secretary of that body, serv- 
ing in this capacity until the work of the commission was 
finished. 

In November, 1834, Mr. Swann was married to Miss Eliza- 
beth Gilmor Sherlock, daughter of John and Elizabeth 
Sherlock; and as a consequence of this marriage there 
occurred a change in both the scene and character of his 
subsequent activity. First, he took up his residence in Balti- 



l86 GOVERNORS OP MARYLAND 

more, the home of his bride; and then, with his coming to 
the Maryand town, he made his appearance as a railroad 
official. He acquired considerable stock in the Baltimore 
and Ohio Railroad, of which company he was chosen a 
director. Upon the retirement of President Louis McLane 
in 1847, Mr. Swann's was elected Mr. McLane's successor, 
and with his induction into this office began a period of 
determined advance in the history of the railroad. After 
severing his connection with the Baltimore and Ohio in 1853, 
Mr. Swann assumed the presidency of the Northwestern 
Virginia Railroad Company, and while serving as presi- 
dent of this latter enterprise made an extensive tour of 
Europe. 

Upon his return to America, he appeared to have lost his 
ambition to be a railroad builder in the more absorbing 
passion for political honors. At all events, in 1856 Mr. 
Swann announced his candicacy for mayor of Baltimore, and 
was elected for a term of two years. He was reelected for 
a like term in 1858, thus serving four years in this office ; and 
it would be difficult to overestimate the importance which 
attaches to these years in the chronicles of Baltimore's 
grovs'th. The primary accomplishment of the mayoralty 
administration of Mr. Swann was the establishment of a 
streetcar service. In securing this modem convenience for 
the people of the city he at the same time planned carefully 
and A^nsely that the municipality should receive from those 
favored with the privilege of laying tracks and operating 
cars on the streets an equitable return. Thus there was 
devised the park-tax system, which required the railway 
company or companies to pay to the city a certain percent- 
age of their earnings. This source of revenue was designed 
to afford the means for developing the city artistically, 
and Mayor Swann had it specified that moneys received from 
the car lines should be devoted to purchasing and maintain- 



THOMAS SWANN 187 

ing land as public parks. He was responsible, in this con- 
nection, for the acquisition of Druid Hill Park, the city's 
most notable public pleasure ground. It was during his 
administration, too, that the inadequate volunteer fire 
companies were superseded by a municipal fire department 
and the old fashioned pumps gave way to steam fire engines. 

The one unfortunate feature of Governor Swann's official 
relations with Baltimore is the fact that he appeared 
as the standard-bearer of the know-nothing party. The 
first municipal election in which he was a candidate was 
that of October 8, 1856; and in certain particulars this 
election filled respectable Baltimoreans with apprehension. 
There was dishonesty in voting, there was violence and 
bloodshed around the polls, and there was on the part of 
the know-nothing leaders an absolute disregard of public 
morality. 

As the time approached for the gubernatorial election of 
1857 Governor Ligon became uneasy lest the ballot-box 
be made a mockery by the lawlessness of the know-nothing 
politicians. He entered into communication with the city 
officials, looking to an honest election, but his advances were 
not kindly received in the city. Mr. Ligon, however, was 
not a timid man, and when he learned of the officials' 
disinclination to cooperate with him in having a decent 
election in Baltimore, he promptly gave some hint of his 
determination to down rowdyism as a political factor by 
issuing a proclamation in which he announced that Balti- 
more would be put under military rule on election day. 
The proclamation caused much excitement, and leading 
citizens of Baltimore prevailed upon the state executive to 
reconsider his purpose, as they feared a conflict between the 
soldiery and the people. Mayor Swann then declared that 
every precaution would be taken to have the election orderly, 



l88 GOVERNORS OP MARYLAND 

provided the proclamation was superseded by another can- 
celling the order for military rule. 

Despite the mayor's assurance the same reign of terror and 
Nnolence marked theelection. and Mr. Hicks, the know-nothing 
candidate, was reported to have polled a majority of 9036 
votes in Baltimore. There were repeated efforts at this time 
to inaugurate some sort of reform in Baltimore politics, but 
the movement was too feeble to accomplish its object. 
Mayor Swann appeared for reelection in 1858. and some 
idea of how things were run is given in the attitude of his 
opponent, Mr. A. P. Shutt. About noon of election day 
Mr. Shult advised his friends to make no further effort to 
cast ballots for him, declaring that their ballots would be 
lost anyway and that any effort to vote other than a know- 
nothing ticket meant the endangering of the life of the voter. 
The ma ority for Mr. Swann was declared to be 19,149. 

Up to i860 the political activities of Thomas Swann had 
been confined almost entirely to Baltimore. In that year 
however, the know-nothing party lost its hold in Maryland, 
while elsewhere in the nation it had ceased to exist some 
time before The conflict incident to the Civil War was bring- 
ing about a change in the political complexion of the nation, 
and a considerable portion of the know-nothing follow- 
ing became union, and later republican; while part of the 
organization attached itself to the democratic party either 
before the opening of the war or shortly thereafter. Mr. 
Swann early took a decided stand against secession. When 
the conflict began he joined the forces of the union party 
and labored with that organization during the four years of 
hostilities, but he subsequently became a democrat. His 
speeches during the period from i86i to 1864 focused 
upon him the attention of the union party's leaders in 
Marylan<l. and when the state convention was assembled 
on October 18, 1864, he was unanimously nominated for 



THOMAS SWANN 189 

governor. Under the constitution of 1864, which was in 
force only during Governor Swann's administration, a 
lieutenant-governor was provided for, and the uncondi- 
tional union party named for this position, as Mr. Swann's 
running mate Chr stopher C. Cox. Swann and Cox were 
elected, and Mr. Swann took the oath of office on January 11, 

1865, although he did not become governor de facto until a 
year later, January 10, 1866. 

When Mr. Swann assumed the reins of state government 
in 1866 he gave his fellow-citizens every reason to believe 
that he would pursue the course begun by his predecessor, 
and that he would hold steadfast to the principles of the union 
party. But when that party turned radical, and sought 
to retain power in states where its adherents were few by 
withholding from its political opponents the elective fran- 
chise, Swann refused to follow it. Almost immediately 
after his induction into office, Governor Swann gave his ear 
to those who were laboring for the restoration of Maryland 
to its rightful majority. When a petition bearing more than 
20,000 names was presented to the general assembly, 
asking it to restore to Marylanders the elective franckise, 
the governor sustained the petitioners, but the legislature 
did not see fit to grant the request. 

The real tug of war came later, when it was alleged that 
the police commissioners of Baltimore had been guilty of 
partisan conduct in the municipal election on October 10, 

1866. The commissioners were subject to removal for 
misconduct by the legislature, but during a recess this 
judicial authority devolved upon the state executive. 
Governor Swann. consequently, advised the commissioners 
that charges had been made against them, and that he 
would sit in judgment over them; but the commissioners 
denied the governor's authority. Nevertheless, the charges 
were investigated and Governor Swann announced, Novem- 



igo GOVERNORS OP MARYLAND 

ber 1. 1866, that Commissioners Wood and Hindes were 
found guilty and dismissed, while Thomas Val ant and 
James Young were appointed as their successors. The 
old commissioners issued warrants for the arrest of their 
successors, and had them detained in jail because they 
refused to g.ve bond that no effort would be made to sup- 
p ant the men whom Governor Swann had dismissed. 
Although the disagreement between the state executive 
and the old commissioners became so serious that Mr. 
Swann requested assistance from the federal government, 
a fairly peaceable election was held on November 6, when 
the supporters of radical disfranchisement measures met 
with defeat. 

The general assembly on January 25, 1867, elected Gover- 
nor Swann, on the eighth ballot, as the successor of John A. 
J. Creswell in the United States senate. After arrange- 
ments had been made for the inauguration of Mr. Cox 
as governor, certain leaders of the democratic party pre- 
vailed upon Swann not to surrender the office to the heu- 
tenant-govemor, who was a radical, for fear that he would 
undo the things Swann had accomplished in restoring the 
elective franchise to Maryland's democrats. At the same 
time word came from Washington that the senate might 
refuse the credentials of the senator-elect on the ground 
that he had been too liberal toward friends of the southern 
cause. This latter explanation was used as an excuse by 
Governor Swann in declining at the last minute to resign. 
He continued as governor until January 1869, but com- 
pensated Cox for his disappointment by having him ap- 
pointed to a foreign post. 

In November preceding his retirement as governor Mr. 
Swann appeared as a cantlidate for congress from the 
fourth district and was elected, despite the violent opposi- 
tion of the republicans. He took his seat in the house 



THOMAS SWANN I9I 

of representatives in 1869, and after serving an initial 
term was four times reelected, carrying his congressional 
career through to 1879. It is probable that as a member of 
congress he found the most congenial public office to 
which he had been called during his busy life. He was not 
a great public speaker, for his voice lacked the volume essen- 
tial to effective oratory; nor was he formidable in debate, 
since he had too deeply ingrained in him a courtesy of man- 
ner that left his adversary unharmed; but as an executive 
he was far above most of the men with whom he was thrown 
in public affairs. His executive ability won for him a place 
upon the house's committee on foreign affairs, and during 
his ten years in congress he continued a member of this 
body. In this connection he exerted much influence in the 
national legislature. The position, moreover, brought him 
in intimate relations with the most distinguished foreigners 
in Washington. He entertained generously and was enter- 
tained lavishly in return. 

Very late in life. Governor Swann made a second venture 
into matrimony. On June 20, 1878, when he had reached 
the age of seventy-one or seventy-two, he married Mrs. 
John R. Thompson, a social leader of the national capital, 
who, as Miss Josephine Ward, had been a famous belle in 
New York society. The marriage did not bring much joy 
to the aged statesman and the couple soon separated. Gov- 
ernor Swann, who had become a resident of Baltimore in the 
thirties, removed to his old home, Morven Park, near Lees- 
burg, Va., after the close of his congressional career, and it 
was there that he died on July 24, 1883. Although a native 
of the Old Dominion, his body was brought for burial to the 
city and state that he had adopted as his own. He lies 
buried in Greenmount Cemetery, Baltimore. 



XXXIV 

ODFiN BOWIE 

A certain sentimental interest attaches itself to the first 
bom. This is so not only in the family, or in the social 
world, but in the world political as well, for just as seniority 
is no little factor in determining the consideration to be 
shown those bom of woman, so also a large amount of honor, 
based solely upon the fact of priority in office, is given to 
the first child of a political parent. For instance, had 
Thomas Johnson lacked the discernment essential to a 
successful statesman or the \sisdom necessary to a capable 
legislator, he would still find a place of peculiar distinction 
in the pages of Maryland history as the first governor 
created under the constitution of 1776. Follo\Ning after 
him William Grason, regardless of the intrinsic worth which 
he so largely possessed, would have been set down as 
entitled to some recognition from posterity on account of 
haNnng been the first state executive chosen by the direct 
vote of the people. And still later there appears Oden 
Bowie, to whose name attaches considerable interest because 
he was the first governor under the constitution of 1867. 
It must not be supposed, of course, that Governor Bowie 
is dependent upon so trivial a thing as his position in the 
line of state executives for fame. Within his body there 
was housed a personality that would have won for him dis- 
tinction independent of all such external aids. There is, 
nevertheless, a great deal of pleasure in contemplating the 
Prince George's countian as the initial one of Maryland's 
truly representative governors. 



"^^■'i^t^ 



ODEN BOWIE 

1869-1872 




COPYRIGHT. 190a. BY H. E. BUCHHOLZ. 



ODEN BOWIE 193 

Oden Bowie was born in Prince George's county on No- 
vember 10, 1826, the eldest son of Colonel William D. and 
Mary Eliza (Oden) Bowie. His father, who had served 
in both houses of the legislature, farmed the looo-acre estate 
of Fairview where the governor spent the greater part 
of his life. Young Bowie studied at home under a private 
tutor until his tenth year, when, upon the death of his 
mother, he was sent to the preparatory school attached to 
St. John's, Annapolis. He remained there for three years, 
and then entered St. Mary's Seminary, Baltimore, from 
which he was graduated in 1845. Shortly after leaving 
college the difficulties between the United States and Mexico 
fired his patriotism and he enlisted as a private in the battal- 
ion contributed by Baltimore and Washington to the army 
of invasion. During his stay in the south he took part 
in several of the more important encounters. For his 
bravery at Monterey he was promoted to a lieutenancy, and 
subsequently was commissioned a captain in the Voltigeur 
Regiment. The climate of Mexico, however, put an end to 
Mr Bowie's military career, for his services in the army, 
begun under such auspicious conditions, were brought to a 
unexpected close by sickness. Captain Bowie was forced 
to resign his commission and returned home before the 
war had been brought to its successful close. 

Immediately upon his arrival in Prince George's, Mr. 
Bowie appeared as a candidate for member of the house of 
delegates. His opponents made much of the youth of the 
warrior-candidate, who was not yet of age, although he 
would have attained his majority before being called upon 
to assume his seat if elected; and in consequence of the 
doubt as to his eligibility Mr. Bowie was defeated, but by ten 
votes only. In 1849 he once more came before the people 
as a candidate for the lower branch of the general assembly, 
and was elected. Two years later. December 3, 185 1, he 



194 GOVERNORS OP MARYLAND 

was married to Miss Alice Carter, daughter of Charles H. 
Carter — a fellow-countian. The Bowies hved at " Fairview." 
the ancestral estate of the governor. While Mr. Bowie 
devoted much time thereafter to his business interests in 
Baltimore, and also to politics, he managed to maintain 
his Prince George's county estate as "home." He lived 
there, and while business might call him away through 
the day, evening invariably found him back on the farm. 

Although Mr. Bowie served in both the house of dele- 
gates and the state senate prior to i860, it was not until after 
that time that he loomed up big in the public affairs of his 
native state. In i860 he was chosen president of the 
recently organized Baltimore and Potomac Railroad, and 
his energy and good management were largely instrumental 
in the success of carrying to completion this line. He met 
^ith serious opposition from the Baltimore and Ohio and 
had to war with this company unceasingly to prevent it 
from succeeding in its efforts to keep its prospective rival 
from finishing the work undertaken. After the Baltimore 
and Potomac had become a part of the Pennsylvania sys- 
tem Mr. Bowie was retained as its president. The office, 
however, had become merely a nominal one. and the Mary- 
lander was continued as a means of showing the company's 
appreciation for the great service he had rendered and the 
interest he had shown in the building of the line, for the 
actual management was in the hands of the Philadelphia 
office of the railway company. 

Oden Bowie appeared as a candidate for the state senate 
from Prince George's county in 186 1. He was a "peace" 
democrat, but certain defeat was read for his campaign 
by the interference of the federal forces in the state elec- 
tion. Although an ardent democrat and also a warm 
sympathizer with the south, he was opposed to the radical 
course of the secessionists. He was chairman of the state 



ODEN BOWIE 195 

central committee during the war and was a delegate to the 
democratic national convention of 1864, which nominated 
General McClellan for president. The state constitution 
of 1864 provided for a governor and lieutenant-governor, 
and in the election under the operation of this governmental 
instrument Mr. Bowie was named as the democratic nomi- 
nee for the second position on the ticket. Mr. Cox, the 
union candidate for lieutenant-governor, who had the 
war forces with him, polled in Maryland 41,828 votes as 
against 32,178 for Mr. Bowie. Mr. Bowie was elected 
to the state senate in 1867, where he served upon several 
important committees, including that upon federal rela- 
tions. Early in this year began the agitation for a constitu- 
tional convention, and when the people of Maryland who 
were then eligible to vote were asked to decide if a conven- 
tion should be called, out of the 58,718 votes cast on the 
13th of April, 34,534 were for a convention and 24,136 
against it. 

The convention met on May 8, 1867, and continued in 
session until August 1 7 , and the document which it devised 
was submitted to the people of Maryland on September i8, 
1867, when it was adopted by a small majority. This con- 
stitution restored to thousands of disfranchised Maryland- 
ers the right to vote, and at the state election on November 
5, 1867, the democrats carried everything before them. 
Mr. Bowie, who had been largely instrumental in bringing 
about the change, was the nominee for governor on the 
democratic ticket and of the 85,744 votes cast 63,694 were 
given to him, while the legislature chosen for the following 
year presented the unusual spectacle of a general assembly 
without an opposition — every member elected being a 
democrat. 

Under the constitution of 1867 the first state executive 
elected was to serve for only three years, but all subse- 



196 GOVERNORS OP MARYLAND 

quent governors were to be chosen for a four-year term. 
Mr. Bowie qualified as Swann's successor on January 8, 
1868, although he did not become governor de facto until 
a year later, or January 13. 1869. He remained in office 
until January 10, 1872. 

The greatest task of Mr. Boi^ie's administration was the 
readjustment of a host of state affairs after the disarrange- 
ment consequent upon the troubled times of the conflict 
between the North and South. By the adoption of the 
constitution under which he served as governor the polit- 
ical machiner)' of the state had been restored to the proper 
authority and Governor Bowie was, therefore, little troubled 
with political affairs. To him came rather the great business 
problems of the commonwealth, such as a settlement of 
the dispute with Virginia regarding oyster beds, the collec- 
tion of arrears from the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and 
adjustment of Maryland's war claims against the federal 
government and kindred subjects. He courageously 
opposed the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in its endeavors 
to block the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad; he exerted a 
great influence upon the management of the Chesapeake 
and Ohio Canal Company, which began to fulfill promises 
which had been made for it in the da)*^ when it was first 
projected ; he took the initiative in providing for Maryland 
a general improvement of its roads, and he was active in 
the interest of public education. 

With the close of his administration, when he retired from 
politics, began his direction of the affairs of the Baltimore 
City Passenger Railway. Mr. Bowie was elected president 
of the street railway company in 1873. when its stock, with 
a par value of $25. was selling at $14; when no dividends 
had been paid for several years, and when the city held a 
claim against it for $100,000 for park tax arrears . Further- 
more, the equipment and trackage were in wTetched condi- 



ODEN BOWIE 197 

tion. Under his management the city's claim was paid, 
the horse-car hnes operated by the company were changed 
to rapid transit and the stock was greatly enhanced in 
value. Governor Bowie's presidency of the company con- 
tinued until his death in 1894, and it was through his efficient 
management, in a large measure, that the great strides made 
by the City Passenger Railway were accomplished. 

In 1870 Mr. Bowie became president of the Maryland 
Jockey Club, which was organized about that time, and in 
whose formation he was active. It was to him that chief 
credit was due for the acquisition of the Pimlico racetrack by 
the Maryland Jockey Club. His own stables were renowned 
throughout the land and his colors were seen upon every 
racetrack of note in the country, while his horses — among 
them Crickmore, Compensation, Oriole and Belle d'Or — 
brought to their breeder both pleasure and wealth. At his 
Prince George's county home Mr. Bowie had a three-quar- 
ter mile racetrack, and here he exercised the thorough- 
breds that found shelter in his five stables. In 1890 Mr. 
Bowie had a nervous breakdown, and the physician whom 
he consulted declared it imperative that he immediately 
cease his attendance upon races and also sell his horses. 
Governor Bowie thereupon retired from the turf, but he 
frankly admitted that the greatest sorrow that his life had 
known, or ever could know, was that moment when he con- 
cluded to part with his thoroughbreds. He died December 
4, 1894, at Fairview, and his body was placed at rest in 
the family burial plot but a short distance from the home in 
which he had passed most of his life. 



XXXV 

WILLIAM PINKNEY WHYTE 

There is need to enter protest occasionally against the 
practice of crediting all virtues to ages past, a practice aris- 
ing from an unconscious, though harmful, pessimism. Cer- 
tain phrases that are in daily use by the people — such, for 
instance, as "gentleman of the old school" when applied 
to a man who is courteous in manner, dignified in bearing, 
and upright in life — are so employed as to intimate that 
in the dim days of yesteryear a better race of citizens was 
developed than is possible under existing conditions. Igno- 
rance is generally responsible for the blunders along this 
line. As a matter of fact, the righteous man is not good 
because his times are good, but because his conscience 
is untrammeled; the wise man does not procure breadth of 
mind, he develops it ; and the truly brave man is not depend- 
ent upon those about him for courage to abide by the right. 
Commonplacencss in natural endowments, in conduct and 
in accomplishments may be general; but greatness invari- 
ably is individual. Mr. Whyte was constantly written down : 
"A democrat of the old school," a term which not only did 
the distinguished statesman a %\Tong, but was grossly unfair 
to modem democracy. The democratic party of the forties 
and fifties was not better, indeed, it was not as good as the 
democratic party of the twentieth century, and the same 
is true of the organization which late in the fifties assumed 
the name: republican. There was more ^^^ckedness and 
less righteousness in politics in those years, than at the 




WILLIAM PINKNEY WHYTE 
1872-1874 




COPYRIGHT, i-._a. a: H. E. BUCHHOLZ. 



WILLIAM PINKNEY WHYTE 199 

present time; and whatever distincton has been won by 
men in the class with Governor Whyte, came to them, not 
because of the times in which they were reared, but rather 
because they themselves were in large measure out of tune 
with their times. 

William Pinkney Whyte was born in Baltimore, August 
9, 1824, the son of Joseph White and Isabella Pinkney 
White. On his father's side he was a grandson of Dr. John 
Campbell White, who in 1798 came to America as the result 
of the failure of the Irish rebellion in which he had taken 
part ; on his maternal side Governor Whyte was a grandson 
of William Pinkney, who served Maryland with much dis- 
tinction, and at the time of his death was a member of the 
United States senate. A disagreement upon a business 
matter between the father of Governor Whyte and his 
two uncles caused two of the former's sons to make such 
changes in their names as would distinguish them from 
their uncles' branches of the family: Governor Whyte sub- 
stituted the "y" in his surname in place of "i," but his 
brother became Campbell White Pinkney. 

Although Governor Whyte received a thorough elemen- 
tary education, the need of earning his own living prevented 
him from going beyond the secondary schools. He was a 
student for some years at the school which R. M. McNally 
— sometime in the personal service of the great Napoleon — 
conducted in Baltimore after the downfall of the French 
monarch; but in 1842, when Mr. Whyte was eighteen years 
of age, he was forced to leave the studies, in which he was 
considerably engrossed, to take a position in the commercial 
world, for which he entertained no special affection. His 
first position was with the banking house of Peabody, Riggs 
and Company — founded by George Peabody — where he 
remained for two years. He then decided to study law, 
and resigned his position with the banking house, 1843, 



JOO GOVERNORS OF MARYLAND 

to enter the office of the law firm of Brown and Brune. He 
read law here for a year, and later entered Harvard Law 
School at Cambridge. Mr. Whjte returned to Baltimore 
in 1845, and for the next year continued his studies under 
Judge John Glenn. He was admitted to the bar in 1846. 
At this time he also made his appearance as a political 
factor, being one of the five democratic candidates for the 
house of delegates from Baltimore. In the fall of that year 
he was elected, beginning his serWce in January, 1847. 
This small experience whetted Mr. Whyte's appetite for 
larger things and he entered the congressional primaries 
two years later against John Nelson, former attorney- 
general of the United States. Although Mr. Whyte won 
the nomination, he was unable, in the election, to overcome 
the predominance of whig sentiment in the district and 
his chief gain from the campaign was the glory of having 
made a good fight. For several years thereafter he gave 
his time to his legal practice, declining a renomination for 
state delegate, but early in the fifties he was named for 
comptroller and elected. He served for the one term of 
two years during the first half of Governor Ligon's admin- 
istration, but refused to allow his name to be put up for 
another term in 1856. 

It was somewhat in a spirit of patriotism that Mr. Whyte 
once more made a fight for election to congress in 1857. At 
this period know-nothingism was supreme in the Monu- 
mental city, and, while it required courage to be the sup- 
porter of an opponent of the know-nothing party, it called 
for absolute fearlessness to be such a candidate-opponent. 
But the friends of good government persuaded Mr. \Vh>te 
that by going into the contest, although his defeat was 
assured, he would be able to aid reform matters in Mary- 
land. J. Morrison Harris, the know-nothing candidate, 
was declared elected by Governor Hicks, himself a violent 



WILLIAM PINKNEY WHYTE 201 

know-nothing; but Mr. Whyte, who had entered the cam- 
paign for the purpose of purifying poHtics, did not allow the 
matter to rest here, and he contested the seating of his 
opponent. Although the congressional committee which 
investigated the matter reported in favor of the unseating 
of Mr. Harris, certain leaders in congress succeeded upon 
a purely partisan vote in having the report laid upon the 
table. 

From i860 to 1868 Mr. Whyte was not much in the public 
eye. In sympathy with the south, his physical condition 
at that time was not such as to permit him to bear arms; 
and drafted for military service on one occasion by the 
federal troops he was declined as "unfit" by their medical 
examiner. With many another noncombatant he was 
deprived of his rights as a citizen in the reign of the more 
bitter reconstructionists, and during this period of tem- 
porary disenfranchisement he visited Europe with his sons. 
Upon the adoption of the constitution of 1867, however, 
Mr. Whyte was once more enabled to take a leading part 
in both state and national affairs. He was a delegate to 
the national democratic convention of 1868, and in the 
same year received his first appointment as a member of 
the United States senate. When Reverdy Johnson resigned 
his seat in the upper house of congress that he might accept 
from President Johnson the appointment of minister to 
the court of St. James, Governor Swann named Mr. Whyte 
to fill the unexpired term from July 10, 1868, till the fol- 
lowing year, when William T. Hamilton, who had been 
elected to the United States senate by the legislature 
prior to Mr. Whyte's appointment, took his seat. Brief 
as was that period, in it Senator Whyte found opportunity 
not only to distinguish himself, but to render a signal ser- 
vice in upholding the constitution. Congress was then 
at odds with the president, and when, on December 9, 1868, 



aoa GOVERNORS OF MARYLAND 

his annual message, in which he roundly scored his ene- 
mies, was received, the radicals interrupted its reading and 
moved to have it placed upon the table. Senator Whyte, 
one of a handful of congressmen who had not been infected 
with hatred for Andrew Johnson, calmly and fearlessly 
pointed out to his colleagues that the constitution instructed 
the president to send at prescribed periods a message to 
congress, and for congress to refuse to receive it would be 
a violation of the constitution, and the message was read. 

Mr. Whyte was named on the democratic ticket for gover- 
nor in the spring of 187 1, and in the campaign was opposed 
by Jacob Tome, republican. The campaign has interest 
outside of its general aspect inasmuch as it was the first 
Maryland state election in which the negro was permitted 
to exercise the elective franchise. This departure accounts 
for the falling off from 40,000 majority given Governor 
Bowie in 1867 to a little more than 15,000 for Mr. Whyte 
in 187 1. Mr. Whyte was inaugurated governor on January 
10, 1872, and for a little more than two years thereafter, he 
administered the affairs of the executive office. His admin- 
istration was efficient and fulfilled the most sanguine hopes 
of his supporters, and yet there was not much of distinction 
about it. W^ere his services as a legislator less conspicuous, 
it is possible that the governorship of Mr. Whyte might 
appear to greater advantage; but as a lawmaker his life 
had been so eventful, while as executive his administration 
was cast in a time so bare of incident, that Governor Whyte 
seems completely overshadowed by Senator Whyte. Fur- 
thermore, when the legislature which met in the early 
part of 1874 undertook to provide a successor for Senator 
Hamilton, its choice fell upon Governor Whyte, and thus 
was brought to a premature end his career as chief magis- 
trate of Maryland. 

Governor Whyte, upon being elected United States scna- 



WILLIAM PINKNEY WHYTE 203 

tor, immediately laid before the legislature his resignation 
as governor, although the term for which he was chosen 
was not to begin until full twelve months later. This 
course was taken in order that the legislature might 
duly select a successor. James Black Groome having been 
chosen for the unexpired term as governor, Mr. Whyte 
relinquished the office on March 4, 1874, and devoted the 
months until March 4, 1875, when he entered congress, 
to his legal practice and private affairs. During this period 
he served his state as special counsel in the boundary-dis- 
pute case between Maryland and Virginia, and, due to his 
energetic prosecution of the Old Line state's claim, his 
native commonwealth gained a signal victory. 

From March 4, 1875, to March 3, 1881, Mr. Whyte rep- 
resented Maryland in the United States senate, and those 
six years mark, perhaps, the most brilliant period of his 
public career. He had stepped out of the executive man- 
sion to don the toga, and it was not long before evidence was 
given of the wisdom which prompted the change. In his 
earlier short term in the senate, Mr. Whyte had been called 
to perform vastly different service from what was now 
required of him. To war against popular prejudice, to 
champion an unloved president, was the most that he then 
could do ; but his second term in the senate found the nation 
at that period of its life when the democratic party could 
become constructive once more ; when it could, even though 
in the minority in congress, exert a mighty influence in 
the nation's affairs. 

This term in the senate from 1875 to 1881 is marked by 
three chapters of unusual brilliancy: these are Senator 
Whyte's championship of sound currency, at a time when 
the congress of the United States was being tempted to 
adopt a false financial policy; his determined opposition to 
a course in the presidential election of 1876 that lost to 



904 GOVERNORS OP MARYLAND 

Tilden his undoubted victory over Hayes through the action 
of the national legislature; and his devising a form of gov- 
ernment for the District of Columbia. In the last of these 
services Senator Whyte made the greatest personal con- 
tribution to the nation's welfare, for he labored individ- 
ually to a larger extent than in either of the other two 
causes. 

It was in 1880 that the rupture between Senator Whyte 
and Mr. Gorman occurred. The legislature of that year 
was called upon to select a successor to Senator Whyte, who 
had some time previously announced that he would not be 
a candidate for reelection. Subsequently, however, cer- 
tain leading democrats declared that the retirement of Mr. 
Whyte from the United States senate would be an irrep- 
arable loss to both state and nation, and they prevailed 
upon him to alter his purpose. Mr. Whyte had on more 
than one occasion accepted the decree of other friends of 
good government in preference to his personal judgment, 
and he followed a like course now. But in the meantime 
Mr. Gonnan, who had previously disclaimed any intention 
of seeking senatorial honors, listened to the siren voices of 
those who would make him Whyte's successor, and his 
professed determination was changed almost simultane- 
ously \^^th that of Senator Whyte. As a consequence the 
supporters of the two candidates engaged in a bitter con- 
test foi; the senatorship, and the Gorman element, having 
had a slight advantage in point of preparation, won out. 

The same year that Senator Whyte retired from congress, 
the Old Line democrats of Baltimore inaugurated their 
movement for reform within the party lines. They named 
Mr. Whyte as their candidate for mayor, and the regular 
or organization democrats, finding themselves too weak 
for warring on both the reform candidate and the repub- 
licans, also named Mr. Whyte for first place upon the regular 



WILLIAM PINKNEY WHYTE 205 

democratic ticket. Then the repubHcans, duly impressed 
with the former senator's strength, decHned to name an 
opposing candidate, and so it was that Mr. Whyte was 
elected mayor of Baltimore without opposition, in 1881. 
Although he found his new duties somewhat irksome, he 
held faithfully to the office to which he had been elected; 
and in some matters, such as the question of the water 
department, he succeeded in improving the service given 
the residents of the municipality. It was not long, however, 
before he once more found himself in conflict with Senator 
Gorman. In 1882 the so-called "new judge" movement 
occurred. Several judges were to be elected in Baltimore, 
and a ticket of men already on the bench— all known to be 
kindly disposed personally to Mr. Whyte — was regularly 
named by the democrats. Then the Gorman democrats, 
who did not favor Whyte's influence in city politics, started 
a revolt. The war-cry was, that Mayor Whyte was seeking 
to be dictator in Baltimore's public affairs; new candidates 
for judges were named and the assertion made that this 
second ticket was brought into the field solely because of 
the need for reform in the judiciary. The Gorman forces, 
aided considerably by republicans, defeated the so-called 
"Whyte judges," and the next year, 1883, at the close of 
the mayoralty term for which Mr. Whyte had been elected, 
he retired from politics and for four years thereafter gave 
his entire time to his legal practice. 

The democratic state convention of 1887, which nomi- 
nated E. E. Jackson for governor, called Senator Whyte 
once more into the political arena by naming him, without 
his permission or knowledge, for attorney-general of Mary- 
land, an office to which his grandfather, William Pinkney, 
had been elected eighty-two years before. Mr. Whyte 
was successful in the campaign and for the next four years 
directed the affairs of the attorney-general's department 



2o6 GOVERNORS OP MARYLAND 

Nnth ability and justice. In the year that he terminated 
his attorney-generalship, Senator Whyte was wedded to 
Mrs. Raleigh Thomas, a widow who had formerly been 
Miss Mary McDonald. This marriage, which was solem- 
nized on April 22, 1892, was Mr. Whyte's second. His 
first wife, to whom he was married December 7, 1847, was 
Miss Louisa D. Hollingsworth, of Baltimore, who died in 
1884. 

Mr. Whyte was a member of the commission appointed 
by Mayor Malster, upon authority accorded by the legis- 
lature of 1896, to frame a new charter for Baltimore, and 
was chairman of this body. The work to be accomplished 
was monumental; the time at the commission's disposal 
was unfortunately scant; but the charter commission per- 
formed its work judiciously and promptly. President 
Benjamin Harrison appointed Senator Whyte, in 1889, a 
delegate to the congress of American nations, but because 
of pressing public duties the Marylander had to decline 
the honor. 

Appointed city solicitor in 1900, Senator Whyte performed 
the duties of this office for three years. Senator Whyte 
retired as city solicitor in 1903, and for the three years there- 
after gave his time chiefly to his legal practice. But in 
1906, upon the death of Senator Gorman, he was once more 
called into public service. Governor Warfield appointed 
Mr. Whyte to the vacant senatorship until the legislature 
.should in due form elect another. The commission bore 
date of June 8. 1906. In the first democratic senatorial 
j)rimary in Maryland, held in the fall of 1907, Mr. Whyte 
was the sole candidate to be his own successor for the 
remaining portion of Mr. Gorman's unexpired term, and 
he was given a very flattering vote. He died before the 
t(»mpletion of his term, March 17, 1908. 



JAMBS BLACK GROOMK 
1874-1876 




. XXXVI 

JAMES BLACK GROOME 

Because a people live under a republican form of gov- 
ernment is not conclusive evidence that all, or for that 
matter that any of them are, as far as political views are 
concerned, positively republican; no more than can citi- 
zenship in a kingdom or principality be finally accepted as 
the badge of royalism. Indeed, many a royalist is streaked 
with republican theories, which he seeks to down because 
he fears they may undermine his royalist faith; seldom, if 
ever, does the despot believe absolutely in despotism; and 
the professing democrat is frequently democratic in just 
so much as suits his worldly purpose. In brief, within a 
nation whose political doctrines have been produced by 
natural evolution it is difficult to find a pure type of any 
particular class of political believer. The masses, of course, 
are not generally positive in their convictions as are the 
leaders — or, at least, those who stand forth in strong relief 
against the background of the average, but even the pro- 
fessions of these conspicuous ones are distressingly often 
at variance with their conscious opinion. Thus, for exam- 
ple, when colonial word-jugglers cried: "Give us liberty 
or give us death," the majority had in mind as the attain- 
ment of the former simply a continuance of monarchical 
rule under home-made rulers. On the other hand many 
a self-styled republican is unable to distinguish the auto- 
cratic demagogue from the true democrat. 

When, however, the historical student approaches the 
life of Governor Groome and lays bare the most secret 
recesses of his public and private career, he is tempted to 



2o8 GOVERNORS OP MARYLAND 

^\Tite him dovm — a democrat pure and undefiled. By so 
doing he may err. but it will be an excusable transgression, 
for the record left by the man who succeeded Governor 
Whyte in the executive mansion is deeply impressed with 
the tracings of a remarkably democratic spirit. A demo- 
crat, in the broader sense, is "one who believes in or adheres 
to democracy as a principle of government or of organized 
society; one who believes in political and natural equality; 
an opponent of arbitrary or hereditary distinction of rank 
and privilege." A man who champions the masses and 
opposes the classes is too often accorded the credit of being 
democratic, but he is no more democratic in truth than one 
who favors the few and is antagonistic to the mass. The 
real democrat is he who is able to be friendly to the many 
and the few simultaneously, who will not oppose, instinc- 
tively or otherwise, the proud nor the humble, the strong 
nor the weak, the rich nor the poor; one who will not dis- 
criminate in favor of any class because of its class — and 
such a man was Mr. Groome. The first claim of Governor 
Groome to posterity's recognition rests upon the fact that 
he, to an extent never before equaled by a chief magis- 
trate of Maryland, was possessed of a broad and undiluted 
democracy. Governor Groome. according to a very sane 
editorial in his home paper at the time of his death, "was 
everybody's friend. ♦ ♦ ♦ The humblest could approach 
him without a sense of restraint, but none were so mighty 
as to feel disposed to trifle with him. " 

James Black Groome, born on April 4. 1838. at Elkton, 
Maryland, had his early life cast in an atmosphere of cul- 
ture and refinement. His father. Col. John Charles Groome, 
was a man of considerable prominence. A lawyer by pro- 
fession, he occasionally took a hand in political affairs, and 
in the exciting times when the know-nothings held Mary- 
land in a grip of steel opposed Thomas H. Hicks for the 



JAMES BLACK GROOME 209 

governorship, but was defeated. Mrs. Elizabeth (Black) 
Groome, the governor's mother, was the daughter of 
Judge Black, of New Castle, Delaware. When an infant, 
James Black Groome met with an accident that resulted 
in physical injuries from which he never fully recovered, and 
throughout his life he had to fight constantly against sick- 
ness. When a youth he entered Tennent School, at Harts- 
ville, Pennsylvania, to prepare for Princeton College, but 
his eyesight failed him and he was forced to abandon his 
purpose of taking a collegiate course. He made the best 
of his misfortune, returned home and studied law under 
his father, and was admitted to the bar of Maryland in 1861. 
Unable to take active part in the Civil War, Mr. Groome 
set himself the task of watching over the interests of those 
who, because their bodies were stronger, took up arms, and 
as soon as the conflict had been ended he worked faithfully 
to repair the injured political fabric. Active among those 
who favored the calling of a constitutional convention, he 
was a delegate from Cecil county to the gathering which, 
in 1867, framed the present constitution of Maryland. 
Under the operation of the new constitution, Mr. Groome 
labored untiringly for the success of the democratic party 
in his own county, though he did not appear for some time 
as a candidate for office. It was not until 187 1 that he 
asked his neighbors to honor him by sending him to the 
lower branch of the legislature, and in the election he was 
successful. He served as a member of the house of dele- 
gates in the session of 1872. During this term evidence of 
Mr. Groome's popularity among the Eastern Shore members 
was shown when the general assembly met to elect a United 
States senator, for, although not able to marshal enough 
votes to make him a very hopeful aspirant, he, nevertheless, 
had sufficient support for the senatorship to show that he 
was highly regarded by those who knew him best. 



2IO GOVERNORS OP MARYLAND 

Mr. Groomc stood for reeleciion in 1873 and was chosen 
a member of the legislature which met in the following year. 
Early in the session the general assembly elected William 
Pinkney Whyte, then governor of Maryland, to a scat in the 
United States senate; and, while the term for which Mr. 
Whyte was chosen did not begin until 1875, he immediately 
placed his resignation as chief magistrate of Maryland before 
the legislature in order that that body might elect his suc- 
cessor. Of the many aspirants for the honor, Mr. Groome 
had the heartiest support, and he was elected governor for 
the unexpired term of Mr. Whyte. The latter relinquished 
the executive office on March 4, 1874, and Mr. Groome, 
who assumed the duties upon that occasion, served Mary- 
land as its executive until January 12, 1876, when his suc- 
cessor, John Lee Carroll, was inaugurated. 

When Mr. Groome became governor he was just thirty- 
five years of age, and, therefore, one of the youngest chief 
magistrates in the history of Maryland. His administra- 
tion, especially at its close, witnessed much bitter feeling 
'and passion in Maryland, part of which found expression 
in the contest of the election of several leading state offi- 
cials. A notable incident in this connection was the effort 
of S. Teackle Wallis, the unsuccessful candidate for attorney- 
general in the election of 1875, to prevent the governor 
from issuing a certificate of election to his opponent. Charles 
J. M. Gwinn. Governor Groome's position was one of ex- 
treme delicacy; here was a political enemy calling upon him 
to sit in judgment over an election that had been declared 
in favor of Mr. Gwinn, whom the governor, if he pursued 
a strictly partisan course, must naturally favor. Through- 
out this controversy, Mr Groome showed that same absolute 
independence of partisan bias which characterized his course 
generally in administering the affairs of the state. Gwinn 
was successful in the contest but every opportunity was 



JAMES BLACK GROOME 211 

given Mr. Wallis to prove his claim. Indeed, Mr. Groome 
went so far as to choose as his own representative in the 
case WalHs' attorney, explaining afterwards that he "knew 
that this selection of counsel would be misunderstood by 
many and would bring upon me their temporary censure, 
but I knew, under the peculiar circumstances, that it was 
eminently the proper one to make, and I made it." 

The month following his retirement, Mr. Groome was 
married, February 29, 1876, to Miss Alice L. Edmondson, 
of Talbot county. The first years of their married life 
were passed at the governor's boyhood home in Elkton; 
later six years were spent in Washington, and upon the close 
of Mr. Groome's official business in the national capital 
he purchased a house in Baltimore, where he passed most 
of his remaining years. The legislature that met in 1878 
was called upon to elect a United States senator, and al- 
though he had as his opponents such men as ex-Governor 
Philip Francis Thomas, Montgomery Blair— postmaster- 
general under Lincoln, and Robert M. McLane, Mr. Groome 
was chosen for the six years beginning March 4, 1879. 
The full term that Senator Groome was in congress ran 
concurrently with the closing two years of Senator Whyte's 
term and the opening four years of Mr. Gorman's term in 
the senate, and he did not measure up spectacularly to the 
activity in the national legislature of either of these Mary- 
landers. He was, however, no pygmy among the con- 
gressional giants; he helped to make up the conscience of 
the senate, he contributed much toward the sound reason- 
ing of the upper house, and he served his state faithfully in 
the position to which he had been chosen. His record in 
the senate might have been a somewhat prouder one 
though it could not have been cleaner, had not ill health 
at times prevented him taking the part he was well equipped 
to play. 



2ia GOVERNORS OP MARYLAND 

Senator Groome's term in the senate terminated on 
March 3. 1885. and on February 17. in the year following, 
he was appointed by President Cleveland collector of cus- 
toms at the port of Baltimore. This position — the last 
public office he held — he filled for the next four years. 
The remaining years of his life were mostly passed in his 
Baltimore home, where he died, October 4, 1893. ^'S 
body was interred in the Presbyterian cemetery at Elkton. 
No more fitting eulogy could be penned regarding Governor 
Groome than a certain passage which he himself wrote 
when making his final address as governor of Maryland to 
the legislature in January, 1876: "I cannot but recall with 
pleasure, not unmixed with pride, the fact that all times 
during my term in office * ♦ ♦ i have freely granted a 
hearing to every resident of Maryland, however humble, 
who had a petition to present, a grievance to be redressed 
or a suggestion in regard to any public matter to make. 
♦ * * As to all matters of public interest, I desired 
the whole people of the state to consider themselves my 
counselors. If. then, the state has been the loser by the 
fact that any portion of her citizens did not aid me by their 
advice in reaching a correct conclusion upon any important 
matter, the fault was with those citizens, and not with me. 
But while in season and out of season all who desired it have 
had free access to me, none has been permitted to obtain 
a controlling influence. The whole responsibility for the 
mistakes of my administration, whatever they may be, 
must rest, therefore, upon me, for all my official acts had 
the approval of my own judgment. " 



JOH ARROLL 



XXXVII 

JOHN LEE CARROLL 

Back in the seventies of the nineteenth century, when 
times were hard and money scarce, business generally 
became depressed. To be able to eke out a modest living 
for his family satisfied the average business man, while the 
big corporations, which were large employers of labor, 
found it a matter for careful calculation to make good their 
reduced payrolls. The railroads especially felt the full bur- 
den of the commercial sluggishness, and they were forced to 
take immediate steps looking toward a lessening of operat- 
ing expense. This end was obtainable by one of two 
methods: the reduction of the working forces, which meant 
that a portion of the employees would be deprived of their 
entire incomes, or a decrease in the scale of wages, by which 
the working corps could be kept intact. The Baltimore and 
Ohio Railroad, among others, determined upon the latter 
course. But when the announcement of this plan was pub- 
lished there resulted some muttering among the workers 
to be affected, particularly among the firemen and brake- 
men. This leaven of dissatisfaction spread until it had 
aroused, even more violently than the men most concerned 
in the reduction, a host of disinterested laborers, who sym- 
pathized with the railroad men chiefly, perhaps, because 
the general stagnation of business had brought them to the 
point of ready irritation. A strike was instituted; the 
strikers were replaced by substitutes ; then violence followed 
and the men who refused to work sought to prevent more 
willing ones from performing their duties. This initial 
uprising was mild, but it was sufficient to fire the hearts of 



2 14 GOVERNORS OF MARYLAND 

thousands upon thousands of workmen of all grades and 
of idlers who, as one body, moved to usurp the authority of 
law in Baltimore and in other parts of Maryland and to in- 
augurate a season of riot rule. 

This crucial moment in the history of Maryland supplies 
an appropriate background for the study of one of the 
commonwealth's governors, because the strike afforded him 
an opportunity for displaying those traits which his other- 
wise tranquil life had concealed. Inactivity on the part of 
state officials at this stage was certain to encourage the 
rioters in their unlawful course; but on the other hand rash 
activity was equally sure to incite the uprising mobs — 
which at times numbered as many as 15,000 men and boys 
— to greater violence. When the Baltimore riot assumed 
gigantic proportions there entered the arena the chief 
magistrate of Marjiand. He set up his executive office 
in Baltimore and, entering the very thickest of the fight, 
he pronounced his courageous and unalterable decree: 
The law was to be obeyed ; if any man had suffered wrong his 
redress must be through lawful channels, for whoever 
sought to disobey or disregard the law — whether he had 
been wronged or not — would find the state powerful and 
ready to punish him as a public enemy. There was neither 
class favoritism nor unkindness in his words, but behind 
the utterance was an irresistible determination and also a 
hint of that same righteous fearlessness that had prompted 
Charles Carroll of Carrollton. one hundred years before, 
to sig^ the Declaration of Independence — for this chief 
magistrate of Maryland was a descendant of the illustrious 
signer: he was Governor Carroll. 

John Lee Carroll was bom on September 30. 1830, at 
Homewood, the old Carroll property on Charles Street 
avenue above Thirty-first street. If noble deeds and vir- 
tuous living can put their stamp upon the blood of those 



JOHN LEE CARROLL 215 

who perform the one and practice the other, then in the 
veins of the boy there coursed the best colonial blood of 
Maryland. He was a son of Col. Charles and Mary Digges 
(Lee) Carroll; the former a grandson of perhaps the most 
famous public character that Maryland has produced — 
Charles Carroll, the signer — and the latter a granddaughter 
of Thomas Sim Lee, who in the early days of Maryland's 
independence twice served his native state as its chief 
magistrate. The infant days of John Lee Carroll were 
passed at Homewood but when he had reached the age 
of three his father removed to Doughoregan Manor, a 
much more expansive estate of the Carroll family, situated 
about six miles from Ellicott City. The boy's elementary 
studies were pursued under the guidance of private tutors 
at the manor; but in 1840, when ten years old, he was sent 
to Mount St. Mary's College, at Emmitsburg, where he 
remained for two years. He studied for a brief period 
thereafter at Georgetown College prior to his entrance at 
St. Mary's College, Baltimore. 

During the three years that Mr. Carroll spent in academic 
studies at St. Mary's he decided to enter the legal profession, 
and with this end in view he went to Cambridge, Mass., 
where for two terms he attended the lectures at Harvard 
Law School. Upon returning to Baltimore he entered the 
law office of Brown and Brune as a student, and was ad- 
mitted to the bar upon attaining his majority in 1851. 
Before beginning his professional career, however, he made 
a trip to Europe and traveled extensively about the conti- 
nent. It was in 1854 that he settled down to practice law 
in his native state, and the following year he was named by 
the democratic party for the legislature, but was defeated by 
his know-nothing opponent. About this time Mr. Carroll, 
while on a visit to New York, met Miss Anita Phelps, 
daughter of New York's famous merchant, Royal Phelps, 



3l6 GOVERNORS OP MARYLAND 

and he was married to her on April 24, 1856. This matri- 
monial venture of the Marylander threatened to deprive 
his native state of his citizenship, for, although he continued 
his law practice in Baltimore until 1858, in that year, upon 
the solicitaticm of his father-in-law, he took up his residence 
in Mrs. Carroll's home city. 

Upon removing to New York, Mr. Carroll accepted a 
position as deputy clerk and United States commissioner 
in the office of the clerk of the United States district court, 
his motive being to gain a vside legal acquaintance before 
setting up his practice in that city. But the declining 
health of the elder Mr. Carroll and thegatheringof war clouds 
prompted the son to return home in 1861, and thereafter 
he remained a constant Marylander, although frequently 
leaving his home for foreign shores. With his return to 
the manor, the management of the estate fell largely upon 
his shoulders, and the great plantation, with its 200 slaves, 
was no light burden in those troubled times. In 1862 the 
senior Mr. Carroll died, naming John Lee Carroll as his 
executor. It required the next three years to wnd up 
the affairs of his father. By this settlement Doughoregan 
became the property of Governor Carroll's brother, Charles, 
from whom, however, he purchased it in 1867, and there- 
after made it his home. The estate is one of the finest in 
Maryland. The mansion has attached to it a chapel in 
which the neighbors worship, and here under the altar rests 
the botly of Charles Carroll of Carrollton. 

Upon the completion of his labors as his father's executor, 
Mr. Carroll once more venture<i into the field of politics. 
This was in 1867, when he received the democratic nomina- 
tion for the state senate, and was elected for a term of 
four years. At the expiration of his scnatorship he appeared 
for reelection, and was once more successful. During this 
second term, Mrs. Carroll died. 1873, ^"^ ^^^ master of 



JOHN LEE CARROLL 217 

Doughoregan began preparations for going abroad, in order 
that he might place his children — his family consisted of 
five sons and four daughters — in French schools. He 
remained in America, however, to attend the session of the 
legislature in the opening months of 1874, and was elected 
president of the senate during this session. After having 
entered his sons in .the Jesuits College and his daughters 
in the Convent of the Sacred Heart, near Paris, Senator 
Carroll returned to America in the early part of 1875, ^^'^ 
several months after his arrival he became the democratic 
nominee for governor of Maryland. The campaign was 
one of the bitterest in the history of the state. Mr. 
Carroll was opposed by J. Morrison Harris, who in earlier 
years had been prominent in the know-nothing party, 
and much was made by the republican spellbinders of Mr. 
Carroll's devotion to the Roman Catholic Church. The 
democratic ticket was elected by a majority of about 10,- 
000 out of a total of 157,984 votes; but immediately the 
defeated candidates made claims of fraud and intimidation 
on the part of the democrats. Mr. Carroll's election was 
contested before the legislature, although the contestants 
were not able to substantiate their claims; and he was 
inaugurated on January 12, 1876. 

The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad strike — already referred 
to — was the event of greatest moment in the Carroll admin- 
istration. It was on July II, 1877, that the company issued 
its notice of a reduction of 10 per cent in the wages of all 
men receiving more than $1 a day. In making the announce- 
ment attention was called to the general business depression 
and the necessity of a more economical management of the 
company; and the president added : " It is hoped andbeheved 
that all persons in the service of the company will appreciate 
the necessity of and concur cordially in this action." The 
brakemen and firemen did not, however, "concur cordially." 



ai8 GOVERNORS OP MARYLAND 

On the day set for the reduction to go into eflfect, July i6, 
there was a concerted refusal on their part to work. The 
vacancies thus created by the strikers were filled with sub- 
stitutes, and then the strikers became violent. The strike 
fever, which was general throughout the Eastern states, 
was stirred to white heat in Maryland; and on July 20, 
Governor Carroll concluded to send the Fifth and Sixth 
Regiments to Cumberland, where the strikers were doing 
considerable damage to property. But the announcement 
of this intention created wild excitement in Baltimore. 
The regiments, due partly to sympathy with the strikers, 
especially among the members of the Sixth, were slow in 
reporting at their respective armories. The military' call 
was then rung from the City Hall, but this only increased 
the general excitement; and for several days thereafter 
vast mobs of men and boys and women crowded about 
Camden station determined to oppose the departure of the 
militia. 

By the time the regiments had been marched to Camden 
station, on July 20, the city was in such a frenzy that Gover- 
nor Carroll, who was personally directing affairs, did not 
dare to send away the soldiery that, to all indications, would 
be needed for the protection of law-abiding citizens of 
Baltimore and for policing the city. The mob reached 
such proportions that the governor made an urgent request 
of President Hayes for aid from the federal government, 
and he received assurance that the required troops would be 
hurried to the city. In the meantime, however, the heroic 
efforts of Baltimore's police and the hearty support of part 
of the militia enabled the state executive to suppress the 
riot spirit before the federal troops arrived. The mob had 
at most been only temporarily quieted; there were still 
threats of a fresh outbreak; and yet at this stage of the 
trouble Governor Carroll revealed somewhat of his courage 



JOHN LEE CARROLL 219 

and solicitude for the people who had entrusted their lives 
in his hands, by seeking to divert to Cumberland the aid 
promised by the Washington government to Baltimore. 
On Saturday, July 21, Camden station was set on fire and 
other buildings were given to the flames by the rioters. 
Troops began to arrive from the various federal forts, 
despite Governor Carroll's cancellation of his request for 
such aid, and these established themselves in the city with 
headquarters at Barnum's Hotel, subject to the orders of the 
governor. Again on the twenty-second an attack was made 
on Camden station, but on this occasion the forces under 
Governor Carroll surrounded the rioters and drove several 
hundred of them into the building, where they were cap- 
tured, bound and carted off to jail — and the backbone of 
the uprising in Baltimore was practically broken. By 
the next day the riot was dead, although the labor conflict 
continued for some time thereafter in various parts of the 
country, notably around Pittsburg. 

Early in his administration was held the Centennial 
Exposition, in Philadelphia, and Governor Carroll, who 
attended with his staff, was given a notable reception. 
While in the executive mansion. Governor Carroll made his 
second matrimonial alliance, his bride being Miss Mary 
Carter Thompson, daughter of Judge Lucas Thompson, of 
Staunton, Virginia, to whom he was married in April, 1877. 
Mrs. Carroll died in 1899. After the close of his administra- 
tion, Mr Carroll contented himself with supervising his 
Howard county plantation and with looking after his other 
business and his social engagements. Although asked on 
several occasions to become a candidate for public service, 
he declined to re-enter the political field as an aspirant for 
office, but he frequently served other candidates upon 
the stump. In the first Cleveland campaign he was espe- 
cially active, and spoke for the democratic national ticket 



aao GOVERNORS OP MARYLAND 

throughout the state. Had Governor Carroll done no more 
than pilot the state safely through the troubled sea of labor 
disturbances in 1877, he would still be entitled to a large 
share of fame. But he accomplished other things of per- 
manent value; he did enough outside of his settlement of 
the labor riots to cause endless regret that his services for 
the state should have covered so brief a period. From his 
entrance into ofhce as a member of the legislature, in 1868, 
to the close of his administration, in 1880, was just twelve 
years; while the span of his life has so far stretched over 
seventy-eight years. The shorter period, marked with its 
brilliant public service, however, does not overshadow the 
longer period, with the equally meritorious contribution of 
John Lee Carroll to the weal of the nation in liis r61e of a 
model, public-spirited citizen. 




COVTNIOMT l»0«. BT N. I. BUeMMOlI 



i 



#1 



WILLIAM THOMAS HAMILTON 
1880-1881 



XXXVIII 

WILLIAM THOMAS HAMILTON 

Economy, if not actuated by selfishness, is a praiseworthy 
attribute; when prudence, and not avarice, inspires the 
economist, he practices an admirable virtue, and one most 
difficult to cultivate. It matters not whether the field of 
his activity be in the home or in the outside world, the 
righteous economist deserves a wreath of roses — or if he pur- 
sues his practice in the political world, a halo, for the world 
politic is not the place best adapted for introducing eco- 
nomic doctrines. With the subject of political adminis- 
tration there is strongly associated in the public mind an 
idea of necessary extravagance with public funds and a 
disregard of the return received for salaries paid to public 
servants, whose employment is looked upon as part of the 
patronage falling to political workers. For this reason, 
while the theoretical economist makes an admirable candi- 
date, the practical economist, if given office, is apt to prove 
disappointing to the "spoils-seekers" of his party. The 
men, as a rule, who most heartily support a man for an 
elective office carrying with it some patronage in the form 
of appointments, look to that candidate, if successful, for 
favors. Since the days of President Jackson the motto of 
political parties in the United States has been: "To the 
victor belong the spoils" — and "spoils" here is synony- 
mous with everything but the elective office itself. 

Bearing this in mind, it is not difficult to see that a party 
man, if elected by his organization to an office rich in patron- 
age, would soon fall into disfavor if he not only refused to 
regard public offices as "spoils" but immediately upon 



jaa GOVERNORS OF MARYLAND 

entering office sought to reduce the number of public posi- 
tions to be filled. Herein is found an explanation for 
Governor Hamilton's falling out uith the so-called "lead- 
ers" of his party and for the opposition which he encoun- 
tered in the closing years of his life from party workers 
who had once labored for his success. Mr. Hamilton was 
a political economist, or, more properly, he was an economi- 
cal politician. The ruling passion of his life was to lighten 
the people's burden of taxation. But light taxation is not 
to be obtained unless there is economical administration, 
and economical administration is impossible without honest 
administrators, while honest administrators cannot win 
office unless the ballot is maintained undefiled — so his 
endeavor led him to support a series of reforms all of which 
were distasteful to a large part of his political bedfellows. 
Bom at Hagerstown, September 8. 1820, the infancy and 
early childhood days of William Thomas Hamilton were 
passed at Boonsboro, the parental homestead. Deprived 
of his mother at the age of six years, and two years later of his 
father, Henry Hamilton, he was placed under the guard- 
ianship of his three uncles. These relatives — the brothers 
of his mother, whose maiden name had been Anna Mary 
M. Hess — were engaged in fanning, and also conducted a 
mill and general merchandise store. The lad, thus inti- 
mately associated with business men. early developed those 
traits which characterized him in after years — self-reliance, 
an indomitable will, and the spirit of combativeness which 
readily comes to a boy thrown upon his own resources. The 
elementary training of the boy was acquired from James 
Brown, a happy mixture of pedagogue and politician; and 
from this preceptor the youth doubtless received his taste 
for politics. He received his college preparatory training 
at Hagerstown Academy, and studied for four years — 
1836:1840 — at Jefferson College, Cannonsburg. Pa. Upon 



WILLIAM THOMAS HAMILTON 223 

his return to Hagerstown, he entered the office of John 
Thomson Mason as a law student, and in 1843 was admitted 
to the bar. Although Mr. Hamilton developed into a cap- 
able attorney, the legal profession was with him a secondary 
pursuit, for throughout his career he centered his interest 
on politics. It was not, however, for selfish motives that 
Mr. Hamilton slighted other matters for public service; 
indeed it is doubtful if any man gave less thought to the 
emoluments that were to be obtained from public office. 
It was rather an affection for the great body of the common 
people that prompted him to seek service as their servant, 
and that ever guided his course while performing the duties 
of their representative. In the legislative campaign of 1846, 
Mr. Hamilton was elected a member of the house of dele- 
gates upon the democratic ticket, and during the session 
which followed he was an ardent supporter of Governor 
Pratt in his fight against a repudiation by Maryland of her 
debts. Pratt was a whig, and it was perhaps largely due to 
Hamilton's support of the enemy of his party that he met 
with defeat when he appeared for reelection in 1847. 

The next year (1848) Mr. Hamilton made his appearance 
in national politics as a presidential elector for Lewis Cass, 
the opponent of Zachary Taylor; and in 1849 he was the 
nominee of his party for the house of representatives. The 
tariff question was at this time agitating the American 
people and the eyes of the nation were upon Maryland, to 
which the democratic party looked for the deciding senti- 
ment which should mean democracy's ascendancy or de- 
cline. Mr. Hamilton made the slogan of his campaign: 
"Tariff for revenue only," a doctrine which he must have 
known would be distasteful to a large portion of the people 
of whom he asked support ; he was, nevertheless, elected and 
during his first term in congress became a staunch follower 
of Henry Clay. Congressman Hamilton was reelected in 



S94 GOVERNORS OP MARYLAND 

1 85 1, and toward the close of this second term he announced 
his intention of retiring from the house. He was, how- 
ever, prevailed upon again to be a congressional candidate, 
and had as his opponent the fiery Francis Thomas, who 
filled many public offices, including that of governor of 
Maryland. Mr. Thomas, although originally a democrat, ran 
as an independent candidate, and the contest between him 
and Mr. Hamilton was a spirited one; the latter, however, 
gained the victory. This third term in congress witnessed Mr. 
Hamilton as the champion of President Franklin Pierce. 

Congressman Hamilton again asked to be relieved of office 
in 1855, but once more he was persuaded to enter the cam- 
paign because he was regarded as the strongest available 
democrat to do battle with the know-nothing candidate. 
But know-nothingism was then all-powerful in Maryland, 
and Mr. Hamilton was defeated for congress in 1855. With 
the termination of his third term in the house of representa- 
tives he retired from political life and it was some years 
later — indeed, not until after the adoption of the state 
constitution of 1867 — before he was again prevailed upon to 
seek public office. He had been married in September 8, 
1850. to Miss Clara Jenness, a daughter of Richard Jenness 
of Portsmouth. N. H. After his marriage the care of a 
family demanded much of his time and proved an incentive 
to choose such occupations as would permit him to remain 
in Hagerstown or at his country home nearby, and, although 
he was solicited to become a candidate for the governor- 
ship in 1861, he refused to allow his friends to present his 
name to the convention. During these years of retire- 
ment Mr. Hamilton devoted his entire time to the law 
partnership which he had formed with Richard H. Alvey, 
later judge of the court of appeals. 

Mr. Hamilton made his reappearance as a political factor 
in 1868, when he came out as an aspirant for senatorial 



WILLIAM THOMAS HAMILTON 22$ 

honors. The ballot of the general assembly, taken on Jan- 
uary 17, 1868, gave Mr. Hamilton 56 votes; Thomas Swann, 
46, and William M. Merrick, 7. Hamilton thus received 
just enough to be elected, and he served in the United States 
senate from March 4, 1869, until March 3, 1875. During 
this period he wrote himself down as a mighty foe of admin- 
istrative extravagance. When the so-called "salary grab" 
was attempted none fought it more determinedly than did 
he. It was in March, 1873, that congress undertook a gen- 
eral increasing of the nation's payroll for the Washington 
officials. The president's salary was raised from $25,000 
to $50,000 a year; the pay of members of the bench of the 
supreme court and cabinet officials was increased $2000 a 
year and the salaries of senators and representatives was 
changed from $5000 to $7000. But congress, in its very 
generous mood, decreed that its own increase should date 
from 1 87 1, or two years before the increase was actually 
authorized. Senator Hamilton not only fought the bill, 
but when it had finally been passed he refused to accept 
the back salary which it declared him entitled to draw. 
It was his action and that of a few other equally honest 
members of congress that cleared the way for that public 
condemnation which necessitated congress, because of 
adverse sentiment, to repeal all the provisions of the bill 
except those concerning the salaries of the president and 
members of the supreme bench. 

Mr. Hamilton also cast his influence for righteous 
legislation by his hearty and unwavering support of all 
measures tending to civil service reform. At the termina- 
tion of his senatorial service, in 1875, Mr. Hamilton appeared 
as candidate for the gubernatorial nomination. He had 
some little strength in the convention, but his economical 
views were not, perhaps, too much relished by the leaders, 
and John Lee Carroll became the party's nominee. In the 



226 GOVERNORS OF MARYLAND 

democratic state convention of 1879, Senator Hamilton, 
however, was unanimously nominated for governor. He 
was opposed by James A. Gary, who subsequently served as 
a member of President McKinley's official family. In the 
election the democratic candidate was chosen by a major- 
ity of more than 22,000 votes. 

The keynote of the administration of the state executive 
office for the next four years, from January 14, 1880, to Jan- 
uary 9, 1884, was "reform." Throughout his term as gov- 
ernor, Mr. Hamilton was constantly an obstacle in the way 
of those members of the legislature who pursued corrupt 
practices or indulged in extravagant legislation. This nat- 
urally brought him in conflict with the legislative branch 
of the government, which was in a measure inclined toward 
liberal patronage, and also in conflict with state leaders, 
who were behind that particular portion of the legislature 
which Governor Hamilton opposed. The addresses of the 
chief magistrate to the general assembly were frank arraign- 
ments of those who sought to spend the commonwealth's 
money recklessly or dishonestly. He exposed certain meth- 
ods by which public officers of the state endeavored to 
create the impression that the treasury was in better con- 
dition than was actually the case. The effort to make 
up the state's deficiency by taking money from the school 
taxes was held up to condemnation; the creation of certain 
useless offices carrjnng large salaries and the maintenance 
of others equally useless were fearlessly denounced. 

It is not difficult to find in all this ground for a growing 
dissatisfaction with Governor Hamilton on the part of those 
leaders of his own party who received the brunt of his criti- 
cism, and therefore it is not surprising that before his term 
as state executive should have expired he was in more or 
less disfavor with those whose reprehensible methods he 
refused to wink at. It is not really hazardous to \\Tite 



WILLIAM THOMAS HAMILTON 227 

down the clean administration of Mr. Hamilton as his fare- 
well appearance as a large figure in Maryland politics; nor 
is it, perhaps, any more hazardous to credit the termina- 
tion of his activity in state politics to his break with the 
democratic leaders because of his honest economic policies. 
Nevertheless, he served to a considerable extent in the presi- 
dential election of 1884, which was in the fall following his 
retirement as governor, and in Washington county he never 
lost his prestige. He was at the time of his death more 
dearly loved and more generally looked up to by his neigh- 
bors than at anyeariler period in his life. When he breathed 
his last, on October 26, 1888, the town of Hagerstown, and 
the county of which it is the governmental pivot were both 
brought under a shadow; the citizens felt that a personal 
and a public friend had been lost. On the day of the funeral 
of the Maryland statesman business was suspended while 
the people of Hagerstown followed the body to Rose Hill 
Cemetery. To Mr. Hamilton, Hagerstown is largely in- 
debted for its new charter, for its improved streets, electric 
lights, waterworks and other municipal improvements. 

In his native city Mr. Hamilton left many monuments 
to his ability and public spirit. In his own state he wrote 
an inspiring record of honest and economical administration 
of state affairs. But perhaps in the book of the nation he 
left the most pleasing account of his high ideals as a public 
official. The man who stood for "administrative economy, 
low tariff taxes and honest methods in politics," made a 
unique record on the pages of the history of the United 
States congress. At no time in his public career did he rise 
higher than when he refused to obey a law which had been 
enacted to enable his colleagues to rob the nation and, by 
that refusal, forced his less righteous fellow-senators to 
return to the national treasury their ill-gotten booty. 



XXXIX 

ROBERT MlLl.lGAN Mcl.ANE 

Three general divisions are necessary for a proper classifi- 
cation of Maryland's governors. In the first of these are 
comprised those chief magistrates whose public services 
at no time gave their political activities more than a strictly 
local aspect. The second division takes in such execu- 
tives as have at some time in their public careers exerted 
an influence upon national affairs. These men may have 
served in congress, or they may have exercised their talents 
for the nation's good in other channels — in the cabinet, 
on the bench, or in the army or navy. Finally, there is a 
third class — the men who assumed the dignity of being 
factors in world politics. Of these there are naturally very 
few — that occasional public character whose labors bore 
results in lands outside the United States, who left his stamp 
upon the history of the entire world — and among the few in 
this division there is no name more deserving of inclusion 
than that of Governor McLane. 

Robert Milligan McLanc was born in Wilmington, Del., 
on June 23, 181 5. His father, Louis McLane, had been 
frequently and greatly honored by the state of Delaware 
and the federal government, but in 1837 he wthdrcw from 
public affairs and came to Baltimore to assume the presi- 
dency of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. Through his 
maternal ancestry, however, the state of Maryland has 
greater claim to Governor McLane than that acquired by 
this change of residence, for Mrs. Louis McLane, who 
before her marriage had been Miss Catherine Mary Milli- 
gan, was a resident of Cecil county, Maryland. The initial 




ROBERT MILLIGAN McLANE 
1884-1885 




COPYHJGHT, 1908. BY H. E. BUCHHOLZ. 



ROBERT MILLIGAN McLANE 229 

schooling of young McLane was acquired under the tutor- 
age of John Bullock, a Quaker who conducted an academy 
in Wilmington. Mr. McLane continued at this institution 
until 1827, when he entered St. Mary's College, Baltimore. 
Two years later Mr. McLane, Sr., was appointed United 
States minister at the Court of St. James, and his son 
accompanied him abroad, although he separated from his 
father and went to Paris, where he pursued his studies at 
the College Bourbon. The McLanes remained in Europe 
until 1 83 1, when the elder McLane was called back to 
America to accept the treasury portfolio under President 
Jackson. At the same time his son was appointed by 
the president to a cadetship at the United States Military 
Academy, from which institution he was graduated in 1837. 
Upon leaving West Point Mr. McLane was commissioned 
second lieutenant in the First Artillery, and went to Florida, 
where he saw service under General Jessup. In the follow- 
ing year he was placed in the army commanded by General 
Scott, and took part in the Cherokee campaign. In the 
latter part of the year 1838, however, Mr. McLane was trans- 
ferred, to the newly organized corps of topographical en- 
gineers. The secretary of war, in January, 1841, com- 
missioned Lieutenant McLane and a fellow-officer to go to 
Holland and Italy to examine officially the dykes and drain- 
age, respectively, of these two countries and to make a 
detailed report on them to the government. During this 
expedition Mr. McLane entered into a matrimonial alliance. 
The bride was Miss Georgine Urquhart, daughter of David 
Urquhart, a merchant of Louisiana, and the marriage was 
solemnized in Paris on August 2, 1841. This change in 
the domestic life of the officer unquestionably proved the 
final incentive to his breaking away from a profession for 
which his affection had waned somewhat in the years 
immediately preceding his marriage. Mr. McLane had 



ajO GOVERNORS OF MARYLAND 

during his military service prepared himself for the bar 
ami had been admitted to practice in the District of Colum- 
bia early in the forties. After his return to America, he 
continued with the army for two years, supervising engi- 
neering work in the vicinity of New Orleans and elsewhere. 
In the meantime, however, he was planning to make a 
change of profession, and in October. 1843, resigned his 
commission and took up his residence in Baltimore, where 
he began to practice law. 

Mr. McLane did not conceal for long his real motive in 
taking up law in Mar}'land. In the year following his resig- 
nation from the army, when Henry Clay was opposing Mr. 
Polk for the presidential chair, he gave liberally of his time 
and ability to the cause of the democrats, and during the 
campaign made a strong impression in Maryland through 
both the manner of delivery and the substance of his politi- 
cal addresses. In the year 1845 he received the democratic 
nomination as one of Baltimore's representatives in the 
house of delegates, and was elected. When the legisla- 
ture convened he became a champion of Governor Pratt 
in his honest financial plan for Maryland's debts. He was 
also hearty in his advocacy of constitutional reform — a 
matter in which Baltimore especially was interested — and 
upon his legislative record generally he succeeded in obtain- 
ing, a year later, the democratic nomination for congress. 

Thus in the very morning of his political career Mr. Mc- 
Lane cast off the lines of strictly local affairs and stood ready 
to take up his position among the legislators of the nation. 
In the ensuing campaign he came out boldly in support of 
the administration regarding Texas and Mexico, and was 
elected over the whig candidate. Upon his entrance into 
the house of representatives he continued his champion- 
ship of President Polk's course in connection with the repub- 
lic to the south of the United States. Mr. McLane was 



ROBERT MILLIGAN McLANE 23 1 

reelected to congress in 1849. ^^ 1851 he was engaged as 
counsel for a large mining concern which was experiencing 
some difficulty over its property in California, and his pro- 
fessional duties necessitated a trip to the Pacific Coast. 
The business was less easily settled than had at first been 
anticipated, and it was not until 1852 that the lawyer was 
able to return to the East. Nevertheless, he appeared as 
elector for Franklin Pierce in the presidential campaign of 
1852 and upon the induction of the latter into the presiden- 
tial office the Marylander began his career as a diplomat. 

China was weighed down with religious revolution, and 
the relations between the empire of the East and the more 
advanced western nations was thrown into something like 
chaos. As things went from bad to worse, England, France 
and America became greatly alarmed over the situation. 
President Pierce appointed Mr. McLane commissioner to 
China, with power of minister plenipotentiary, and accred- 
ited him at the same time to Japan, Siam, Korea and Cochin 
China. He gave him as an escort a rather formidable collec- 
tion of boats, and told him to go and settle the trouble with 
the Chinese. He was called upon to perform the difficult 
feat of remaining on friendly terms with the imperial gov- 
ernment and at the same time treating officially with the 
revolutionists, who were the enemies of the imperial ad- 
ministration; and he accomplished this feat with much 
credit. As soon as Mr. McLane had become convinced that 
his presence in the East was no longer required, he requested 
his government to recall him, and was relieved in the sum- 
mer of 1855. 

Mr. McLane returned to America in time to take part in 
the preliminaries of the presidential campaign of 1856. He 
was active in organizing the convention which placed 
James Buchanan in nomination, and he rendered much 
service to the national democratic ticket. For the next 



3^3 r.ayyusORS OP MARYLAND 

few years legal engagements kept him from public service, 
but he was called upon by President Buchanan in 1859 to 
perform another delicate diplomatic mission for the gov- 
ernment. In June. 1858, friendly relations between the 
United States and Mexico were rudely terminated, and 
Envoy Forsyth was instructed by the state department to 
demand his passport of the Mexican government. The 
nations nursed a feeling of bitter hostility from that time 
until early in 1859, when Mr. McLane was sent as envoy 
extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to Mexico, to 
seek to protect the property of American citizens and con- 
summate some deal whereby order might be brought out of 
the disturbed and anarchical state of affairs in the republic. 
He was honored with the rather unusual "discretionary 
authority to recognize the government of President Juarez, 
if, on his arrival in Mexico, he should find it entitled to such 
recognition, according to the established practice of the 
United States." And he did recognize the government, 
on April 7, 1859, and thereby threw not a little moral sup- 
port to the administration of Juarez, which shortly there- 
after became more firmly established. 

Mr. McLane dealt with the Mexican government more 
than a year, and succeeded in gaining desirable concessions 
for the people of the United States. A treaty which was 
drawn and signed by him in behalf of the United States, 
met with the hearty approval of the government at Wash- 
ington. Before its final ratification, however, there had 
comeabout the change in the administration from Buchanan 
to Lincoln. Anticipating the approach of a serious rupture 
between north and south . and realizing the uselessness 
of further endeavor in Mexico at that time. Mr. McLane 
requested the government to relieve him of the Mexican 
post, and he returned to Baltimore in December, i860. 

Upon his arrival in Maryland, Mr. McLane immediately 



ROBERT MILLIGAN M LANE 233 

c 

assumed his part in the agitation that was then distressing 
the nation. He was unreservedly opposed to the coercion 
of a state, but he was by no means a beHever in the right 
of secession, and throughout the troubled days of 1861-65 
he labored for an adjustment of the differences between 
the north and south. Before the iron grip of the military 
had been finally fastened upon Maryland the legislature 
appointed a commission to go to Washington and protest 
against the unconstitutional proceedings of the federal 
troops in the Old Line state. Mr. McLane was named as a 
member of this body, which by its report was largely influ- 
ential in preventing any legislative move at that time toward 
secession. During the years of the conflict Mr. McLane was 
considerably occupied by his legal duties. He entered the 
service of the Western Pacific Railroad Company in 1863, 
and this post necessitated his traveling frequently between 
New York, the Pacific, and Paris. After the war he con- 
tinued to devote his time almost exclusively to his legal 
practice, and it was not until 1876 that he once more assumed 
the position of prominence which he had held in national 
affairs up to the outbreak of hostilities. In 1 8 7 6 he appeared 
in the democratic convention which nominated Samuel J. 
Tilden. The next year he received the democratic nomi- 
nation for the state senate and was elected. In 1878 he 
was named for congress and was chosen again to the 
ower branch of the national legislature. He came before 
the people for reelection in 1880 and was chosen for a sec- 
ond term, thus giving him for a second time two full terms 
in congress. 

There were exciting days in congress when Mr. McLane 
represented his state for a second time, and in the midst of 
the excitement was generally found the Marylander, who 
had no superior as a ready debater or a fearless champion. 
The cause he represented was that of a minority which was 



2}4 GOVERNORS OP MARYLAND 

capable during much of the time of doing little more than 
holding the republicans in check. Corruption in public 
office was wdespread, graft was the order of things then; 
but through it all Congressman McLane stood up for clean 
politics and ethcient administration of public affairs. His 
sers'ice in congress extended from 1879 to 1883. 

In 1883 Mr. McLane was nominated by the democrats for 
governor and was elected in the fall. He was inaugurated 
governor on January 8, 1884, but within a little more than a 
year — which had not been eventful in Maryland affairs — 
he was offered the post of minister to France by President 
Cleveland, and surrendered the executive mansion that 
he might accept the foreign mission. On March 27, 1885, 
Governor McLane resigned the gubernatorial chair to 
State Senator Henry Lloyd — who, as president of the senate, 
was entitled to become acting governor — and went abroad. 
He served as minister to France throughout President Cleve- 
land's administration. After his successor had been named 
he continued to reside in the French capital, which he chose 
as his residence for the remaining years of his life. He 
died in Paris on April 16, 1898. but his remains were brought 
to America, and interred in the family burial lot at Green- 
mount Cemetery, Baltimore. 



HENRY LLOYD 
i8K 



XL 

HENRY LLOYD 

When Governor Whyte was elected United States sena- 
tor in 1874, he immediately tendered the general assembly, 
then in session, his resignation as chief magistrate of Mary- 
land in order that that body might at once provide a suc- 
cessor, and Mr. Groome was elected governor for the unex- 
pired term. When Governor McLane, however, deter- 
mined in 1885 to relinquish his office to accept the post of 
United States rninister to France, conditions were not 
favorable for so prompt a filling of the vacancy in the execu- 
tive mansion. At the time of Mr. McLane's appointment 
as minister to France the legislature was not in session, 
nor was it scheduled to meet for nearly a year. As a con- 
sequence there began with the retirement of Governor 
McLane practically an unfilled vacancy in the executive 
mansion, for the tem.porary successor provided by the con- 
stitution was merely acting-governor. Thus, for instance, 
in early state days the president of the governor's council 
became acting-executive in event of the disability or dis- 
qualification of his chief, serving until another governor 
was duly elected. When George Plater died in 1792, James 
Brice became acting-governor, and again when Robert 
Wright resigned in 1809, James Butcher was made acting- 
governor; yet neither is entitled to inclusion among the 
governors of Maryland. When Governor McLane retired 
as chief magistrate of Maryland, the duties of his office fell 
upon the shoulders of the president of the state senate, 
Henry Lloyd, who became acting-governor. Between the 
status of Mr. Lloyd, however, and that of Mr. Brice and Mr. 



3^6 GOVERNORS OP MARYLAND 

Butcher there was this difTerence: the earher constitution 
directed the acting-governor immediately to issue a call 
for the legislature to meet in extra session and elect a new 
governor, while the later constitutional provision entitled 
the acting-governor to serve as such until the legislature, 
if not in session, should regularly assemble for its next 
session. 

With the retirement, therefore, of Governor McLane in 
1885 Mr. Lloyd became acting-executive and thus entered 
the class to which belong Brice and Butcher in Maryland 
history; but when the legislature met early in 1886 it added 
its confirmation to a selection which had been in a measure 
the result of chance and elected Mr. Lloyd governor for the 
remaining portion of Mr. McLane's unexpired term, which 
was to extend to January 11, 1888. It would be difficult to 
find two men more unlike than Mr. McLane and his suc- 
cessor. The former — the native son of another state — 
seemed ever on the alert for some public service which 
should carry him into foreign fields, while Governor Lloyd 
is the typical Eastern Shoreman, believing that the strip 
of land stretching between the Atlantic and the Chesa- 
peake is the only bit of country which the destructive 
floods of Noah's days never reached; that he inhabits the 
exclusive remnant of Eden undefiled. Again, Mr. McLane 
was a born combatant and the scent of battle was as a 
sweet fragrance in his nostrils, while his successor is a peace- 
loving man, who bears rather the olive branch than the 
ultimatum and who apparently rejoices most in triumphs 
won far from the scene of conflict. 

Henry Lloyd was born at Hambrooke, near Cambridge, 
on February ai, 1852. His father, Daniel Lloyd, was a 
son of the second Governor Edward Lloyd and a native 
of Talbot, but removed to Dorchester county. On his 
paternal side Henry Lloyd is descended from the Edward 



HENRY LLOYD 237 

Lloyd who settled in Maryland in 1649, ^^'^ from whom 
sprang two namesakes who served as chief magistrates of 
Maryland — one in 1709 and the other in 1809. On his 
maternal side, too, Mr. Lloyd inherited the blood of a 
Maryland governor, his mother, Mrs. Kitty Henry Lloyd, 
having been a granddaughter of Governor John Henry. 
Mr. Henry Lloyd acquired at the schools of Cambridge his 
elementary training, and later entered the Cambridge Acad- 
emy, from which he was graduated at the age of nineteen. 
He then took up the profession of pedagogue and joined 
the faculty of his alma mater — a connection which remained 
intact for some years after he had entered upon the practice 
of law. Under the guidance of his uncle. Congressman 
Daniel M. Henry, and that of Judge Charles F. Goldsbor- 
ough, another relative, Mr. Lloyd upon the close of his 
student days took up the study of law and was admitted to 
the bar in April, 1873, although the volume of his legal 
business did not necessitate an immediate relinquishment 
of his post as instructor in the academy. 

Several years after his admission to the bar, Mr. Lloyd 
began his career as an officeholder; this was in 1875 when 
he was appointed auditor of the court. Although this 
initial public post was not one of large importance, it is of 
interest because it indicates Mr. Lloyd's leaning toward 
the judiciary rather than the legislative office. It was not 
until 1 88 1, or eight years after he had been authorized to 
practice law, that the future governor appeared as a candi- 
date for elective office. He aspired, however, at this time 
to an office of some importance, asking his fellow-countians 
to send him to the state senate. Mr. Lloyd, nevertheless, 
had not aspired too high, for he v/as elected a member of 
the upper branch of the state legislature for the sessions of 
1882 and 1884. During the earlier session, although a 
novice at law-making, he created a good impression by his 



23* GOVERNORS OP MARYLAND 

discretion and executive ability, and when the legislature met 
early in 1884 his name was mentioned for the presidency of 
the state senate. Another candidate for the same posi- 
tion was Mr. Edwin Warfield, of Howard county, who 
shared with Mr. Lloyd the distinction of being one of the 
two strongest aspirants for the chair. It is related that 
these two candidates met and Mr. Lloyd requested his rival 
from Howard county to defer for a session his ambition, 
reasoning that Mr. Warfield had just been elected for 
another full term, while he, Mr. Lloyd, was in the closing 
year of his term and not too sanguine of being returned. 
At all events. Mr. Warfield withdrew and Mr. Lloyd was 
chosen executive of the senate, and by virtue of his office 
he became shortly thereafter, upon the resignation of Gov- 
ernor McLane. acting governor, only to be elected gover- 
nor at the next subsequent meeting of the legislature. 

Mr. Lloyd became acting-governor on March 27. 1885. and 
he continued as such for nearly a year. When the legis- 
lature met in January. 1886. he sent to it the customary 
message from the executive mansion, and in this he set 
forth the change that had taken f)lace in the state adminis- 
tration; he pointed out to the general assembly its need of 
electing a successor to Governor McLane; and he also dwelt — 
though apparently rather because the governor's message 
was expected to do so than from any wish to appear desirous 
of influencing legislation — upon certain matters of public 
concern which he thought required attention. There is at 
least one point in this message deserving of more than 
passing notice. The acting governor gave his unreserved 
endorsement to a desired constitutional reform that had 
been advocated for many years before, namely; that the 
governor of Maryland should be accorded the power to 
veto a single item up(jn any general appropriation bill. 
The practice among highwaymen-legislators of tacking a 



HENRY LLOYD 239 

dishonest appropriation to some general bill, thus making 
it a part of a measure that was favored by honest states- 
men and leaving them no choice between passing the dis- 
honest appropriation or destroying the good measure, met 
with no favor at his hand. 

As soon as the legislature of 1886 had been organized, 
a vote was taken for a successor to Governor McLane. 
But two candidates were named, Mr. Robert B. Dixon, of 
Talbot county, and Mr. Lloyd. Of the 114 ballots cast the 
latter received 100 and, having been declared elected gover- 
nor of Maryland, he was formally inaugurated the follow- 
ing day, January 21, 1886. The next two years, or until 
Governor Lloyd was succeeded by Mr. Jackson on January 
II, 1888, were not momentous ones in the history of Mary- 
land; that is, there was a general run of prosperity; the 
wheels of the government moved smoothly; and the state, 
except in one or two isolated cases, was spared from those 
agitations which are apt to occur when business is depressed 
or the people become discontented under some unjust or 
burdensome tax. When Governor Lloyd was about to 
retire from office he very modestly declared: "While I 
cannot take any special credit to myself for these happy 
results, it is, nevertheless, gratifying to know that these 
circumstances exist when I surrender the trust confided to 
me." There is no reason for supposing that Governor 
Lloyd regretted the absence of momentous events which 
meant that in most respects his administration should 
assume an aspect of the commonplace in history, for, as 
has already been inferred, peace is preferable to the Dor- 
chester countian to war with its more sensational glories. 
But at the same time his judicious course in subsequent 
years while on the bench leave no room for doubting how 
Mr. Lloyd would have measured as governor in an emer- 
gency calling for courage and energy. 



a40 GOVERNORS OP MARYLAND 

Upon the termination of his term as governor. Mr. Lloyd 
resumed his legal practice in his native town of Cambridge. 
But in X892 he was afforded an opportunity of entering 
public service again, without, however, being required to 
forsake the legal atmosphere that appealed to him more 
strongly than service in the legislative or the administra- 
tive departments. In that year his uncle and former pre- 
ceptor. Judge Charles F. Goldsborough, died and Mr. Lloyd 
was appointed by Governor Brown to fill temporarily the 
vacancy caused by his death, until the people of the dis- 
trict should elect another judge at a regular election. In 
the following fall. Judge Lloyd was named for a full term 
of fifteen years upon the bench of the first judicial circuit 
and was elected. His course during the many years of his 
career as a judge has been wise and impartial, and his 
decisions have been uniformly well rendered both as con- 
cerns equity and law. He has done his full share, also, in 
raising to its present high standard the judiciary of the 
state. Mr. Lloyd's services on the bench were brought to 
a close in 1908. when, through the workings of a newly 
passed retiring bill, he was relieved from active service. 

With the beginning of his career as a member of the bar. 
Governor Lloyd entered upon his service in connection 
with the Masonic order. He was initiated into the frater- 
nal organization in 1873, and has ever since been promi- 
nent in its affairs, having served in 1885 and again in 1886 
as senior grand warden of the lodge. During the first year 
of his governorship, or on October 18, i886, Mr. Lloyd was 
married to Miss Mary Elizabeth Stapleforte, daughter of 
William T. and Virginia A. Stapleforte, of Dorchester 
county. Since his appointment to the bench. Judge Lloyd's 
activity has, of course, been confined largely to the Eastern 
Shore. In his home county, and especially in Cambridge, 
he has taken a leading part in strictly local affairs, 



HENRY LLOYD 241 

having been president of the Dorchester National Bank 
since it was organized in 1889. He has also taken a deep 
interest in the affairs of Christ Protestant Episcopal Church, 
at Cambridge. This concern of Judge Lloyd in the local 
affairs of the Eastern Shore is responsible to a considerable 
degree for the fact that he has failed in later years to assume 
the position in state affairs which might be regarded as his 
by right of the earlier promises his public labors gave. For 
this reason the histories of Maryland yet to be written may 
slight him, since, in truth, his legislative service and his 
short administration were not noteworthy as regards the 
spectacular. The native-born historian of the Eastern 
Shore, however, will always write Governor Lloyd down as 
a worthy offspring of those early pioneers of the state who 
founded one of the most distinguished colonial families 
of Maryland; and of that family of Lloyds which has often 
written its name upon the pages of Maryland's history 
Judge Lloyd is a distinguished member. 



XLI 

KLIHU 1:M0RY JACKSON 

Shortly after the close of the Civil War, the democratic 
party of Maryland was returned to power by the same 
movement practically which resulted in the constitution of 
1867. The party's formidable strength from then on seemed 
to stamp out even as a remote possibility the hope of the 
republicans winning back the state machinery. This 
prompted the democratc leaders now and then to indulge 
in plays that were more profitable than virtuous, and so in 
due course the party fell into ill-favor, not only with its 
political opponents but with the more righteous members 
of its own belief. Both the party leaders of the better 
sort and the party press became active toward the approach 
of the state convention of 1887 in a campaign to free the 
controlling organization in Maryland from the features which 
had not unjustly called forth condemnation. And in the 
convention of that year there is seen the beginning of an 
era when the individual candidate, if he carried with 
him enough popular favor, could demand from the organi- 
zation a certain amount of recognition. Although in the 
early part of the convention which was to name the state 
ticket, each section presented its particular cantlidate, the 
convention ended with all party members in perfect har- 
mony, and the people of Maryland were permitteil to N-iew 
a political meeting in which neither scheming nor trickery 
was the order of the day, but a sane consideration of the 
good of the party. The gubernatorial candidate chosen 
waa one whose primary claim to the confidence of the people 
was his commercial success and his business reputation. 



ELIHU EMORY JACKSON 
1888-1892 





COPYRIGHT, 1908, BY H. E. BUCHHOLZ. 



ELIHU EMORY JACKSON 243 

When Mr. Jackson was named for governor the greatest 
appeal that could be made in his behalf was his business 
ability. When he was elected to the office of state executive 
it is probable that his business ability was still accepted by 
the voters as his chief recommendation. And in reviewing 
the administration of the Eastern Shoreman — indeed, in a 
review of his entire life — the one dominant note must be 
"business. ' 

Elihu Emory Jackson was born near Salisbury on Novem- 
ber 3, 1837. His father, Hugh Jackson, was a hard-working 
man, but his home was not, perhaps, as humble as some 
stump speakers of the later eighties painted it. Elihu 
Emory Jackson, who was the eldest of seven children, 
received as good an education as the country school 
of his neighborhood afforded. For some time after clos- 
ing his school career, he aided his father in the manage- 
ment and cultivation of the farm, but there was ever 
present with him the desire to cut free from the home 
ties — not because of their restraint, but because they meant 
limitation of commercial possibilities — and to make a 
shift in the great big world for himself. During the period 
of preparation he hoarded up as much money as he could 
earn, and finally, with sufficient capital to warrant a venture 
on his own account, he left for Delmar where he engaged in 
business. This was in 1859, shortly after Mr. Jackson had 
attained his majority, and he chose the town of Delmar as the 
scene of his venture because it was then the terminus of the 
Delaware railroad. For four years he continued at Delmar 
building up for himself a reputation, increasing his capital 
and adding rapidly to his business experience. In 1863, 
after the railroad had been extended to Salisbury, he moved 
his business there. He opened a general merchandise and dry 
goods establishment, and also handled both lumber and 
grain. His father and his eldest brother were admitted into 



944 GOVERNORS OP MARYLAND 

the partnership wth him at the time of his removal to 
Salisbur)'. and as his other brothers reached manhood they 
also were taken into the business, which was conducted 
under the firm name of E. E. Jackson & Co. A history of 
this firm is the story of Governor Jackson's advance from 
the position of a very modest merchant to that of one of the 
largest lumber dealers in the country. 

The otliceholding period of Mr. Jackson's career covered a 
comparatively small part of his whole life, although immed- 
iately upon becoming a voter he manifested much interest 
in political affairs His excursion into the doubtful field of 
candidacy for office, however, was to all appearances but a 
brief interruption to a life which had been devoted primarily 
to great lumber interests; while his concern in state polit- 
ical affairs found a close second to his interest in the muni- 
cipal affairs of his home town, Salisbury. It was in 1882, 
when Mr. Jackson was a man of forty-five, that he first 
received at the hands of the people among whom he had so 
long been prominent in the world of business the nomination 
for an elective office. In that year he was elected to the 
house of delegates; and two years later, at the next legislative 
election, he was returned to the legislature, though this 
time he was sent to the upper branch of the general assem- 
bly. At the close of the session of 1886. when Edwin War- 
field resigned as president of the senate in order to accept 
the post of surveyor of the port of Baltimore, Mr. Jackson 
was elected his successor. 

The rise of Mr. Jackson as a political factor from the time 
of his first election to the legislature, in 1882, to the time set 
for the state convention of 1887 was remarkable. From a 
great and influential business man who manifested some 
interest in political affairs he grew to be the strongest 
candidate whom the Eastern Shoremen could offer the con- 
vention as their choice for the gubernatorial nomination. 



ELIHU EMORY JACKSON 245 

The delegates from Western Maryland were in favor of Mr. 
L. Victor Baughman, while the section in between — which 
comprised Baltimore city and the surrounding counties — 
was for Mayor Hodges of Baltimore, who was, however, a 
bone of contention in a measure even among the people of 
his own section. For some time a deadlock seemed threat- 
ened, but on the sixth ballot the Baltimore county delega- 
tion threw its support to Mr. Jackson, and its lead was 
promptly followed by all the Hodges' supporters, giving 
Mr. Jackson the nomination before the spectators could 
fully realize the drift in his direction Harmony was the 
cry of the leaders among the delegates, and General Baugh- 
man himself moved to make Mr. Jackson's choice unani- 
mous. At the election, on November 8, 1887, Elihu E. 
Jackson defeated Walter B. Brooks, the republican candi- 
date for governor. 

Governor Jackson, during the four years that he directed 
state affairs, made a good record for efficient and business- 
like administration. First of all, there was his constant solic- 
itude for the rights of the people in their dealings through 
the state government with corporations. With remarkable 
business foresight, he directed the attention of the legisla- 
ture to the need of prohibiting any railroad company from 
consolidating with another railway company, and also of 
forbidding the assignment of a railroad's charter to another 
company without specified permission in each instance from 
the legislature. In other words, he sought in that day to 
put up a barrier which should prevent widespread consoli- 
dation of railroad interests, because of the twofold danger 
of them becoming too formidable factors in state affairs and 
of stifling competition. Governor Jackson endeavored to 
have the railroad companies and other large corporations 
bear a more equitable share of the burden of taxes, and he 
favored taxing foreign corporations doing business in the 



a46 GOVERNORS OF MakWAND 

state in proportion to the amount of business they trans- 
acted in the commonwealth. Side by side \*'ith this constant 
endeavor to have the big corporat ons do their share in 
supporting the state government was an unceasing cam- 
paign for decreasing the taxes of the common citizen. 

Mr. Jackson made no secret of his wish to be sent to the 
United States senate, and during his administration he 
labored industriously to make possible a realization of this 
ambition. He first appeared as a formidable candidate in 
1890, but in the heat of the contest disclosures were made 
concerning the defalcations of State Treasurer Stevenson 
Archer; and this unfortunate affair, for which Governor 
Jackson was in no wise to blame, put an end fora time to his 
candidacy. Two years later he again appeared as an aspir- 
ant for senatorial honors, but Senator Gorman and the 
democratic leader of Baltimore worked against him and 
he was defeated. 

After the close of his administration, Governor Jackson 
resumed the position in the business world from which 
public office had called him. and thereafter he gave 
chie thought to his commercial affairs. His enormous 
lumber interests and his connection with the Salisbury' 
National Bank and the Sussex National Bank — the latter 
at Seaford, Delaware — took much of his time. He bore an 
active part in the state campaign of 1895, when many of the 
old democratic leaders met with defeat. At that time 
he was a candidate for the state senate and was one of the 
few successful democrats. At the session of 1896 Mr. 
Jackson served as chairman of the finance committee, 
accomplishing several meritorious rcfonns;and in the ses- 
sion of 1898 he was also a useful member. His democratic 
friends sought to have him become a congressional can- 
didate in 1900 against his brother. William H. Jackson, 
who had gone over to the republican party when the demo- 



ELIHU EMORY JACKSON 247 

crats first advocated "free silver;" but Governor Jackson 
could not be persuaded to enter the contest. In 1902 and 
in 1904 he was again spoken of for congress; and in the 
latter year the convention even went so far as to nominate 
him without his consent, but he declined the honor. Finally 
in 1907, Mr. Jackson played an important part in the con- 
vention which named Austin L. Crothers for governor, and 
he was largely responsible for the movement which gave the 
deciding votes to Mr. Crothers instead of to Henry Williams. 
In the days when Governor Jackon was fighting hardest 
for success in the business world he put into practice the 
theory that two heads are better than one, and married. 
Mrs. Jackson, who was Miss Nannie Rider, daughter of Dr. 
William H. Rider, of Salisbury, was the close companion of 
the governor in all his affairs from the time of their marriage, 
in 1869 They made their home in the beautiful mansion 
which Mr. Jackson erected in Salisbury in 1885, and their 
greatest interests were centered in the Eastern Shore town. 
When Salisbury was visited by a disastrous fire in 1885, 
Governor Jackson contributed generously of his means to 
the rebuilding of the place. He was, of course, a mighty 
force in the commercial affairs of his home town, where his 
own business constituted so large a source of activity. 
He was also active in the church and social circles of the 
county seat of Wicomico. He died in Baltimore, on Decem- 
ber 27, 1907. 



XLII 

FRANK HROWN 

There is a wide range in the motive that inspires differ- 
ent poHtical leaders and aspirants. Upon the point of 
ethics, for instance, there are poUticians working side by 
side — working under the same standard and apparently for 
the same object — whose characters are antithetical. Thus, 
in the matter of morals, there stands in the center the man 
who makes of politics a business, whether for monetary 
or social advantage; and the pendulum in its full s^^^ng 
reaches on its one extreme the citizen who sees in politics 
a form of religion; and on the other the schemist who makes 
of it a species of crime. The business politician is not neces- 
sarily \\icked — indeed, it were unwarranted to assert that 
he is to any great extent wicked — just as the religiously 
righteous politician is not always a capable or a profitable 
public servant; the criminal politician is, of course, a crim- 
inal. But to classify under these three heads the many 
officials who have held important positions under Mary- 
land's state government would be a task impossible of 
accomplishment, for the true motive of many a politician 
is hidden from view. There are, however, numerous cases 
in which this condition of concealment does not exist. For 
example: no one would believe that Governor Brown is in 
politics as a means of worship, and he himself would un- 
doubtedly be the first to protest, were he written down as a 
man who made of politics a religion. A man of large busi- 
ness acumen, his political ventures have been conducted 
upon the same business principle as a dozen or more other 
large undertakings of his in a strictly commercial field. 



FRANK BROWN 
1802-1896 




COPYRIGHT. 1908. BY H. E. BUCHHOL2 



FRANK BROWN 249 

And, rejecting the fallacy that an office-seeker should neces- 
sarily be inspired only with patriotism, there will be found 
in his political career not a little to admire, whether it be in 
his business methods of making himself governor, or of carry- 
ing to a successful close the campaigns of other candidates. 
Frank Brown was born August 8, 1846, at Brown's In- 
heritance, an estate in Carroll county that had been the 
homestead of several of his ancestors. His father, Stephen 
T. Cockey Brown, was a grandson of Abel Brown, who 
emigrated from Dumfries, Scotland, to Maryland in the 
early half of the eighteenth century. His mother had been, 
before her marriage, Miss Susan A. Bennett, daughter of 
a Carroll county farmer. The elder Mr. Brown intended 
that his son should be an agriculturist. Although the lad 
was given a thorough schooling, being entered at various 
educational institutions in Carroll, Howard and Baltimore 
counties, his father stressed that portion of his education 
which had to do with the management of a farm. But, 
while farming as a hobby has always interested Mr. Frank 
Brown, as an occupation it did not present fascination 
enough to withhold from him the temptation to seek a 
field of activity in less isolated territory, and early in his 
youth he came to Baltimore and entered the employ of 
R. Sinclair and Company, dealers in agricultural imple- 
ments. Subsequently he made his appearance in a semi- 
political position when, in 1870, he was appointed to a 
clerkship in one of the state tobacco warehouses. Here 
the Carroll countian continued for the next six years, serv- 
ing under the administrations of Governors Bowie, Whyte, 
and Groome. During this period he was ever busy in 
building up for himself the foundation of a political career; 
and by 1875 he had grown sufficiently in public esteem to be 
the successful candidate in his county for membership in 
the house of delegates. 



2$0 GOVERNORS OP MARYLAND 

In this instance — which is of interest because it marks the 
initiation of the future governor into elective office — there 
is shown Mr. Brown's method of laying plans well in advance 
of a contest for a public position. Mr. Brown was a mem- 
ber of the session of 1876 as well as that of 1878, having 
been reelected in 1877. His political career was then given 
a pause by the death of both his father and his uncle, a dual 
loss which placed upon his shoulders the responsibility of 
managing a considerable estate. Although these new cares 
kept Mr. Brown out of the legislative race in 1879. just one 
year later, in 1880, he made his initial appearance as a big 
public-spirited character. It was in this year that he 
accepted the presidency of the Maryland State Agricul- 
tural and Mechanical Society, and it was not long before he 
gave evidence of remarkable ability as an organizer and 
executive. He put new spirit into the state fairs held umler 
the society's auspices, and few public movements were 
started thereafter which did not enlist his hearty support. 
With his freedom from legislative duties, Mr. Brown also 
became a more prominent figure in the political affairs of 
the state at large, being particularly active in the presi- 
dential campaign of 1884, when Mr. Grover Cleveland was 
elected. In the campaign of 1885, Mr. Brown was treasurer 
of the democratic state central committee. Early in the 
Cleveland administration circumstances arose which led to 
a vacancy in the postmastership at Baltimore. Mr. Parker 
Veazey, the then incumbent, offered his resignation and the 
president at the same time that he sent this to congress 
presented the name of Mr. Frank Brown as Mr. Veazcy's 
successor. Mr. Brown was confirmed and became post- 
master of Baltim<jre in 1886. His administration of the 
uffairs of this important branch of the federal government 
continued for almost four years, and was marked by several 
progressive innovations. Thus, under Postmaster Brown 



FRANK BROWN 251 

there were created sub-stations to the post office in Balti' 
more, the system of postal parcel and newspapers boxes 
was established, and mail collection by carts was inaugu- 
rated. 

While serving as postmaster, Mr. Brown appeared as a 
candidate for the democratic gubernatorial nomination. 
This was in 1887, when five candidates in all contested for 
the nomination. Though Mr. Brown controlled but twenty 
votes in the convention, he was unable to hold even these 
to the very end, and after Mr. Jackson had been named for 
governor, Mr. Brown announced that he would be a can- 
didate again four years later. This shows something of 
Mr. Brown's business method in politics. It was a very 
natural thing for a candidate who had been unsuccessful to 
announce that he would make another contest; but in the 
disappointed Carroll countians' declaration there was much 
more than a wish to escape gracefully from defeat. For the 
next four years, in season and out of season, he worked 
systematically and persistently in the interest of his own 
candidacy, with the result that by 1891 he had strengthened 
his position so much, that the leaders opposed to him were 
unable to withhold the coveted nomination. Mr. Frank 
Brown was named by the democratic state convention in 
the summer of 1891, and the republican party placed in 
nomination, as his opponent, Mr. William J. Vannort, of 
Chestertown. At the election, held November 3, of that 
year, the Carroll countian was elected. He succeeded Gov- 
ernor Jackson on January 13, 1892, and continued as gov- 
ernor until January 8, 1896. 

Governor Brown's administration was characterized by 
several spectacular public events, in all of which he assumed 
a conspicuous part. These incidents, generally, afforded 
him an opportunity for the display of his business ability 
and of his power to take the initiative at critical moments. 



2$3 GOVERNORS OP MARYLAND 

Especially is this true regarding the Frostburg coal strike 
of 1894. This labor trouble between the soft coal owners 
and the miners was but part of a general dissatisfaction 
among the bituminous coal miners in the eastern states. 
A strike had been anticipated by the governor, who for 
some time prior toils materialization had had the disturbed 
mining section under surveillance. At x 1 o'clock on the 
morning of June 5. he received a telegram that the strike 
had so far advanced in the Frostburg district that the 
sheriff was helpless to guard property. The governor's 
plans had all been so well laid, that by 4 o'clock in the after- 
noon of the same day he had the Fourth and Fifth regi- 
ments ready to send to Frostburg. Special trains were 
provided and before daylight of the morrow the militia 
had been transported to the scene of disturbance. Instead 
of first issuing his proclamation to the strikers to disperse 
and then waiting to see how far they would obey, Governor 
Brown had the militia march upon the heels of the agents 
who were deputized to post copies of his proclamation. 
When Frostburg awoke on the morning of July 6. it found 
the town posted with the governor's orders that the strikers 
refrain from violence; but it also found the streets of the 
town occupied with soldiers whose mission was to see that 
the orders were obeyed. Governor Brown then went per- 
sonally to Frostburg, where he conferred with the strike 
leaders, ^\^th the result that in Maryland there was no vio- 
lence, no conflict between the strikers and the troops, no 
destruction of property; all due to the care with which the 
chief magistrate had perfected his plans for meeting the 
threats of mob-rule, and to the promptness with which 
those plans were put into execution. 

Another instance of Governor Brown's discretion in deal- 
ing with the people at a time of unusual excitement was 
furnished by the Hill murder case, in which he exercised 



FRANK BROWN 253 

executive clemency in commuting the sentence of four 
youthful negro murderers from capital punishment to life 
imprisonment. Dr. Hill, of Chestertown, had been mur- 
dered by some negroes of a party of eight — men and boys. 
All eight negroes were arrested, tried, and sentenced to 
be hung. Governor Brown was later appealed to on behalf 
of four of the negroes, who not only were very young, but 
who were shown to have been drawn into the affair by the 
older men. At the time, however, feeling ran high against 
the accused men, and the governor had to exercise great 
secrecy in investigating the case, lest some rumor of his 
purpose should incite the neighbors of the murdered man 
to resort to violence. Governor Brown visited the boys 
in person, he looked fully into the evidence in the case, and 
then he had a boat go secretly by night to Chestertown to 
take the four prisoners aboard and bring them to Baltimore ; 
after which he commuted their sentence. For a time the 
Eastern Shoremen were bitter against the governor for 
his interference, and threatened to lynch the remaining 
four negroes; but better judgment prevailed, and the law 
was permitted to take its course in the matter of hanging 
the men who had been solely responsible for the crime. 
During his governorship Mr. Brown had also to deal with 
the once-famous but now almost forgotten Coxey's army, 
which, after its ejection from the national capital, camped 
for a while on Maryland soil. Backing up the good legal 
advice of the attorney-general with his own business judg- 
ment, he succeeded in trapping the remnant of this army 
of tramps in such a manner that its members only too 
gladly accepted his invitation to leave the commonwealth 
by a special train, and thus the state was freed from an 
element which was both undesirable and dangerous. Not 
an unimportant feature of Governor Brown's administra- 
tion was his "tax convention." The state executive was 



354 GOVERNORS OP MARYLAND 

not in agreement with certain legislative leaders regarding 
a proposed assessment bill. Although Governor Brown 
favored this piece of legislation in parts, he opposed it as a 
whole, because in its submitted form it threatened the 
people \nth double taxation. The bill, nevertheless, was 
passed by the session of 1892, but did not become a law 
because the governor withheld his signature from it. It 
was resurrected in the session of 1894; but met ^^^th defeat 
in the house of delegates. At this time Governor Brown 
called together the leading public men of the state to attend 
his somewhat unique nonpartisan "tax" convention, at 
which the subject of taxation was thoroughly discussed, 
to the general enlightenment of the public. Mr. Brown was 
married, 1879, to Mrs. Mary Preston, widow of Horatio 
Preston, of Boston, and daughter of David Ridgely. of 
Baltimore. Since the death of Mrs. Brown, which occurred 
in 1895. the ex-governor has taken little interest in his 
Carroll county homestead, spending most of his time in 
Baltimore or abroad. 

Shortly after his retirement from the executive niansion. 
Governor Brown was elected president of the Baltimore 
Traction Company: and during the two years that he held 
this position he wrought great improvement in the finan- 
cial and operating departments of the street railway. He 
came into prominence in the municipal campaign of 1899, 
when he selected Mr. Thomas G. Hayes as the most avail- 
able candidate for mayor in the democratic party, and 
his management was the greatest contribution to the suc- 
cess of Mr. Hayes' campaign. In the same manner he 
became the sponsor for Mr. J. Barry Mahool for mayor of 
Baltimore in 1907, and he managed the campaign which 
resultc'l in Mr. Mahool's election. The new city executive 
appointed Mr. Brown city collector, and by his acceptance 
of the office he returned, after many years of retirement 
to public service. 



XLIII 

LLOYD LOWNDES 

In the closing decade of the nineteenth century the people of 
Maryland became dissatisfied with the political methods 
employed in the conduct of state affairs. The impression 
obtained that the body politic needed an emetic and that 
the season was ripe for reform or an attempt at an improve- 
ment of things political. At this opportune moment the 
republican party of Maryland, which was in the minority, 
brought forth as its candidate one of the most representative 
business men of the state and, with the aid of the dissatisfied 
democrats of the state, elected him. Governor Lowndes 
administered the affairs of Maryland for four years, during 
which time he inaugurated numerous reforms which the 
better element of both parties had thought necessary and to 
which he had pledged himself, and his entire course while 
state executive won commendation from the members of 
both parties; and yet, at the close of his administration, 
when he appeared for reelection, he met with defeat. His 
failure to be continued in office, however, is not surprising 
in view of the facts that people do not long remember the 
services of their faithful servants, and that Maryland, except 
in the campaign when Mr. Lowndes was elected governor, 
had chosen only democratic state executives for a period of 
forty years. 

Lloyd Lowndes was born in Clarksburg, in what is now 
West Virginia, on February 21, 1845. His father, Lloyd 
Lowndes, was descended from Benjamin Tasker, who admin- 
istered the affairs of Maryland during colonial days, and 
Edward Lloyd, who was governor of the state in the early 



256 GOVERNORS OP MARYLAND 

part of the nineteenth century. The mother of Governor 
Lowndes had been Miss Marie Moore before her marriage. 
Lloyd Lowndes attended the local academy of Clarksburg 
until he was sixteen years of age. when he entered Wash- 
ington College, Washington, Pa., where he remained until 
1863. Later he went to Allegheny College, Meadville. Pa., 
from which he was graduated in 1865. Subsequently he 
entered the law school of the University of Pennsylvania, 
and was graduated in law in 1867. 

The elder Mr. Lowndes had taken up his residence in 
Cumberland. Md., where he engaged in business, and as 
soon as his son had completed his studies he joined his father 
in the Western Maryland city. He engaged in the practice 
of law in Cumberland, set about informing himself upon 
matters of general public interest both at home and abroad, 
and also entered the matrimonial state. The v.-ife of the 
governor was Miss Elizabeth Tasker Lowndes, his first 
cousin. Mr. Lo\N-ndes soon after his marriage abandoned 
law for more congenial fields, and during the greater portion 
of his business life he was interested in financial and mining 
enterprises, and in politics. 

In the Grant-Greeley campaign of 1872, Mr. Lo\\'ndes 
received the republican nomination for congress. He had 
as his opponent John Ritchie, who was then representing 
the Sixth district in the house of representatives, and 
defeated the congressman. When Mr. Lowndes entered 
the forty-third congress he had the distinction of being its 
youngest member, aged twenty-eight. During the ses- 
sion the civil rights bill was brought up for consideration 
by the republicans, who planned through it to punish 
further the southern states. The measure was one that 
cver>' republican was expected to support .but Mr. Lowndes, 
despite his tender years and the certainty of disaster 
which was sure to follow the course, courageously opposed 



LLOYD LOWNDES 257 

the unjust measure, and he and five other republicans in 
the house voted with the democrats against it. This sin- 
gle feature of Governor Lowndes' congressional career is 
sufficient to indicate the kind of man he was in the national 
legislature. He served during his two-year term on several 
important committees and accomplished an enormous 
amount of labor, for he was among the laborers rather than 
the talkers. But in pursuing the course ordered by his con- 
science he had signed his own death warrant as a congress- 
man. In 1874 he appeared as a candidate for reelection, 
but was defeated by William Walsh, democrat. His failure 
in the election of 1874 put an end, apparently, to Mr. 
Lowndes' ambition for political honors, and for twenty-two 
years thereafter he refrained determinedly from seeking 
office. During this period, however, he was active in the 
ranks of his party, and exerted an enormous influence upon 
the plans and battles of the republican party, not only in 
his own section of Maryland, but throughout the state. 

Mr. Lowndes was the owner or part owner of extensive 
coal lands, and took an active part in the management of 
the companies operating these lands. In addition to his 
coal interests, he was more or less intimately connected 
with the management of several financial institutions. He 
entered the board of directors of the Second National Bank 
of Cimiberland in early manhood, and at the age of twenty- 
eight was elected its president. He was also on the execu- 
tive board of the International Trust Company and a director 
of the Fidelity and Deposit Company, both of Baltimore. 
He owned the Cumberland Daily News, and gave to it more 
or less of his personal attention, and he managed to spare 
a little time from his active life for supervising the farming 
of his large Allegany county estate. His wealth afforded 
Mr. Lowndes the means of engaging largely in charitable 
work, and in this he had the constant cooperation of Mrs. 



258 GOVERNORS OP MARYLAND 

Lowndes. He was devoted to his church, Emmanuel 
Episcopal of Cumberland, and was in his later years the 
senior warden of its vestry. He was the delegate from his 
parish to the diocesan conventions for about twenty-five 
years consecutively. 

With all these drains upon his time, however. Mr. Lowndes 
found ample opportunity for taking an interest in polit- 
ical affairs. He was throughout the period beginning unth 
his retirement from congress and terminating with his 
nomination for governor of Maryland, a faithful laborer 
for his party's success and a liberal contributor of financial 
ammunition to its committees. In 1880 he was a delegate 
to the national republican convention. He was solicited 
in 1 89 1 to make the fight for governor of Mar>'land. but he 
refused. Four years later, however, at the instance of his 
more faithful adherents in the republican party and certain 
friends in the democratic organization, he permitted his 
name to be used for first place upon the republican state 
ticket. He had as his opponent John E. Hurst, a prominent 
merchant of Baltimore and a faithful supporter of the demo- 
cratic organization. The campaign in the fall of 1895 was 
marked by a general desertion of the independent demo- 
crats to the support of the republican candidate, and Mr. 
Lowndes was elected governor of Mar>'lan<l by a majority 
of more than 18,000. 

He succeeded Mr. Frank Brown i>n January 8, 1896. and 
during the next four years the affairs of the executive oflice 
were administered in a manner that at no time justified 
reproach, but constantly warranted the warmest praise for 
the first republican electetl chief magistrate of Maryland in 
almost thirty years. At the same time the governor was 
handicapi^d somewhat by a legislature which was not as 
pure in motives or as conscientious in conduct as was the 
state executive. But, despite contention and friction, Gov- 



LLOYD LOWNDES 259 

emor Lowndes was able to fulfill every promise made by 
him while campaigning, so far as reform was concerned. 
Thus the Reform League election law, the general assess- 
ment law and the new Baltimore City Charter law were 
passed during his term in office. He gave proof of his con- 
cern in the general welfare of his state by his support of 
measures which aimed to encourage immigration to the 
sparsely settled sections of the state. His administration 
witnessed the Spanish-American War, and he promptly 
responded to the president's call by sending to the front a 
part of Maryland's militia. 

It is more than probable that Governor Lowndes might 
have been able to effect his election to the United States 
senate while governor, had he so willed, and it is certain 
that he was eager to serve his state in the upper branch of 
congress. During his administration two senators were 
chosen, and in both cases they were republican. Governor 
Lowndes, however much he might have coveted the prize 
on either occasion, was dissuaded from using his power to 
bring to him the office. He was willing to forego the attain- 
ment of his greatest ambition politically for what he believed 
at the time was the good of his party and the state generally, 
regardless of party affiliation. 

The republican party, when it met in convention in 1899, 
again nominated him for first place on the state ticket. This 
nomination was an unusual compliment in Maryland, where 
political parties have not been accustomed under the con- 
stitution adopted in 1867 to give a governor a renomination. 
The democratic party named John Walter Smith, of Wor- 
cester county, and in the election held on November 7, 
1899, the latter was given a majority of 12,123 votes. The 
defeat of Governor Lowndes was largely due to the fact that 
the state was normally democratic. Then, too, there was 
disaffection among the republicans. 



36o GOVERNORS OP MARYLAND 

Although after his retirement Mr. Lo^Tides was forced 
to make war upon certain factions of his own party, he 
continued to exert a large influence upon its aflFairs in the 
state. He was upon intimate terms wth President Roose- 
velt, a source of much strength to him, and generally was 
held as the leader of his party in Mar>'land, though an 
occasional defeat was administered to him by the McComas 
element in Maryland republican circles. At the time of 
his death, however, he was by many odds the biggest figure 
in his party and was regarded as the logical candidate for 
governor in the approaching state election. When his future 
seemed to promise mt)st. Governor Lowndes was suddenly 
stricken down, and died almost without warning on the 
morning of January 8, 1905. 



XLIV 

JOHN WALTER SMITH 

In the smaller towns and country districts political 
aspirants are not generally put into public service as 
young as they are in the more thickly populated cen- 
ters; the country politician must bide his time, working 
slowly upward, if he hopes to become the holder of an 
important elective office. He must, as a rule, be well known 
among the people he wishes to convert into his constituents; 
and usually a reputation for success in business will prove 
his strongest recommendation to the rural voter. Farmers 
have a strong leaning toward successful business men as 
candidates for public office; in this respect they show a 
superiority over the city voter, who can be tempted to give 
his support to an unsuccessful lawyer in preference to a 
man who, though he can neither orate nor gesticulate grace- 
fully, has a head full of business sense. 

These prevailing conditions of the rural section supply an 
index to the political rise of Governor Smith. He gave the 
best energy of his early manhood to the commercial enter- 
prises in which he became interested, although in the mean- 
while he devoted a portion of his time to political affairs. 
While he was attaining prominence as a man of large com- 
mercial pursuits, he labored quietly but persistently for 
the success of the democratic party in the lower Eastern 
Shore; and gradually not only won for himself a wide 
circle of acquaintances among the neighboring leaders, but 
he became favorably known to the rank and file of the 
voters. In time he acquired a remarkable hold upon polit- 
ical affairs in his own section, where he had made for himself 



a6a GOVERNORS OP MARYLAND 

a big reputation as a successful business man; but he was no 
longer a stripling when the time arrived to seek political 
honors, for he had reached the age of forty-four before 
making his initial appearance as a candidate. 

John Walter Smith, the son of John Walter Smith and 
Charlotte (Whitlington) Smith, was bom at Snow Hill on 
February 5, 1845. In the county of which his native town 
is the governmental seat the ancestors of the governor had 
been residents for several generations back; and not a few 
of them had won some little distinction in public life. His 
grandfather, on the maternal side, William Whittington — 
a large landowner of Worcester — was chosen one of the 
early judges in what is now the first judicial district; and 
his great grandfather, Samuel Handy, was a member of 
the Association of the Freemen of America. Through the 
misfortune of being early orphaned, John Walter Smith, 
the younger, came under the influence of one who played 
an important part in the public affairs of Maryland. Shortly 
after the boy's birth his mother died, and when he had 
reached the age of five he lost his father. He then became 
the ward of Ephraim K. Wilson, who was twice honored by 
being elected to the United States senate, and this guar- 
dianship had much to do \N'ith the early development of 
Mr. Smith's political ambition. 

Mr. Smith attended the primary schools and Union 
Academy of Snow Hill. His school days, however, were 
brought to a close in 1863, when at the age of eighteen he 
began his business career. He was employed as a clerk 
in the store of George S. Richardson and Brother. He 
subsequently became a partner of this firm, which is con- 
tinued today as Smith, Moore and Company. Mr. Smith 
is a representative business man of the type produced by 
the smaller towns of Maryland; his comnicrcial interests 
grew steadily and soon exceeded the narrow confines of his 



JOHN WALTER SMITH 263 

own native town, but he has ever maintained first affection 
for the old homeplace, and his business success has also been 
the business success of Snow Hill as well as of Worcester. 
He was active in the organization of the First National 
Bank of Snow Hill in 1887, in which institution he retains 
a large interest. He is one of the largest landowners of his 
own county and is prominent in many of the local indus- 
tries — his business energy having lead him into concerns of 
greatly varied complexion, such, for instance, as the oyster 
industry, lumbering, canning, farming, finances and insur- 
ance. He is vice-president of the Surry Lumber Company 
and the Surry, Sussex and Southampton Railroad Com- 
pany, and he is connected with many other institutions in 
Snow Hill, Baltimore and other parts of the state. 

The early appearance of Mr. Smith in the business life 
of Snow Hill had also its bearing upon his home life. After 
he had been admitted as a junior member to the firm of 
George S. Richardson and Brother, he was married, when 
twenty-four years of age, to Miss Mary Frances Richard- 
son, a sister of the senior partner of the house. Mr. and 
Mrs. Smith have always retained their home residence in 
Snow Hill, although there have been times when Mr. Smith's 
official duties have necessitated a temporary residence 
either at Annapolis or Baltimore. The home circle for 
many years consisted of the parents and two daughters. 
One of the girls. Miss Charlotte Whittington Smith, died 
some years ago, while the other daughter, Mrs. Arthur D. 
Foster, has resided in Baltimore since her marriage. Al- 
though with the breaking of the family circle the Smith 
home may have lost some of its former life, it retains its 
reputation of being the center for true Eastern Shore hos- 
pitality. Even the most violent political enemies of the 
ex-governor admit that for courteous manners and hospit- 
able instincts the Worcester countian has no superiors, and 



a64 GOVERNORS OP MARYLAND 

nowhere are these characteristics seen to better advantage 
than when Mr. Smith is the host of his friends in his Snow 
Hill home. 

Althoujjh Mr. Smith did not appear as a candidate for 
office until i88g, when he was a man of forty-four, he had 
been a considerable factor in Eastern Shore politics a long 
time before that. It was in 1889 that he determined to 
enter the campaign to represent Worcester county in the 
state senate, and not only was he elected state senator in 
that year, but he was reflected for full four-year terms in 
1893 and in 1897. Early in his career as state senator, he 
experienced the first of two great political disappointments, 
both resulting from his defeat as a candidate for the 
United States senate. Ephraim K. Wilson, Mr. Smith's 
former guardian, had been chosen to the upper branch of 
congress in 1885 for six years, and in 1891 was reelected 
for the term to expire in 1897. This second election wit- 
nessed Mr. Smith as the especial champion of Senator Wil- 
son, and when the latter died, on February 24, 1891, before 
having begun his second term, State Senator Smith an- 
nounce<l liimself as candidate for the seat made vacant by 
Senator Wilson's death. Mr. Charles H. Gibson, however, 
was more acceptable to the leaders of the Western Shore, 
and Mr. Smith had to forego for a time his ambition to 
serve in the upper branch of congress. 

At the session of the legislature in 1894, which marked the 
beginning of Mr. Smith's second term in the state senate, 
he was elected president of that body. In the election 
of 1896, the democratic party had lost the first con- 
gressional district, and two years later Mr. Smith was 
prevailed upon to become a candidate for the lower house 
of congress in the hope that his large following would make 
pos.«;iblc a recovery of the lost territory. Although the 
republicans bitterly contested the election, Mr. Smith was 



JOHN WALTER SMITH 265 

successful, but before he began his service in congress, he 
was placed in nomination for governor of Maryland by the 
democratic state convention that met in the summer of 
1899. At the previous gubernatorial election, Maryland 
had, on account of dissatisfaction with the methods of the 
democratic leaders, elected a republican chief magistrate 
for the first time since the Civil War. Governor Lowndes, 
the republican in question, appeared for reelection in oppo- 
sition to Mr. Smith in 1899, but was defeated. 

The most prominent feature of Governor Smith's admin- 
istration, extending from January 10, 1900, to January 13, 
1904, was his call for an extra session of the legislature in 
1 90 1. It must not be supposed that his term in the execu- 
tive mansion was so void of important events that this inci- 
dent should be regarded as the only one of great moment; 
but for his course in convening in extra session the gen- 
eral assembly. Governor Smith was more bitterly attacked 
and more ardently supported than for any other act of his 
governorship. Early in Governor Smith's administration 
reports were sent to the executive mansion that frauds 
had been perpetrated in the census returns for the decade 
of 1900, which, if they remained uncorrected, would result 
in allowing an unjust representation in the house of dele- 
gates to the republican counties. The governor, therefore, 
on February 13, 1901, issued a proclamation, instructing 
members of the legislature to meet in special session at 
Annapolis on March 6, 1901, and in explanation of his 
course he pointed out: (i) That errors in the enumera- 
tion by the United States census of the population of the 
state, if not corrected by an enumeration under state author- 
ity, would give to the same section of the state a dispro- 
portionate representation in the house of delegates. (2) 
The urgent need for legislation to reform manifest and great 
abuses in the state's election law. (3) A demand from the 



a66 GOVERNORS OP MARYLAND 

mayor and city council of Baltimore for additional power 
in connection ^ith sewerage of the city, and the preserva- 
tion of its sanitar>' condition. The legislature met on the 
day prescribed and continued in session until March a8, 
1901. The particular business for which it had been called 
was discharged: the sewer bill was passed; provision was 
made for taking a state census, which proved the correct- 
ness of Governor Smith's charge that frauds had been per- 
petrated; a new election law was passed ; and the re- warding 
of Baltimore city was ordered. 

During his term as governor. Mr. Smith either took the 
initiative or else contributed liberally of his energy in many 
movements for the public good. He was active in starting 
a public campaign against tuberculosis, urging the legis- 
lature in 1902 to create a commission to investigate the 
disease with a view to preventing its spread, and he has 
served upon the commission which was created in response 
to his request. He labored untiringly for the improve- 
ment of the county schools, and the marvelous advance 
made in public education in the rural districts since the 
creation of a state superintcndency of public education is 
largely due to him. Early in his legislative career he had 
introduced the free school bill, which he pressed for passage 
in subsequent sessions until 1896. when the bill became a 
law; and during his term as governor he secured the re\*i- 
sion of the public school law governing the appointment of 
school commissioners so as to provide for bi-partisan rep- 
resentation in all the counties in order to divorce the school 
system from political influence. 

During the legislative session of 1904. Mr. Smith made his 
second contest for a seat in the United States senate. After 
a prolonged fight, which assumed the aspect of an unbreak- 
able deadlock. Mr. Isidor Rayner was eventually elected, 
and Mr. Smith suffered the second of his great political 



JOHN WALTER SMITH 267 

defeats. Instead, however, of becoming discouraged, the 
Worcester countian prepared himself for a fresh effort. 
Theretofore he had looked to certain political leaders to 
aid him in realizing his greatest political ambition, and 
these leaders had deserted him. Now he set about to build 
up a political following throughout the state in which he 
need be dependent upon the caprice of no man, but in which 
he should have the deciding voice. How wisely he organ- 
ized his forces was shown in the democratic primary election 
in the fall of 1907, when Mr. Smith was named by an over- 
whelming majority as the party's nominee for the six-year 
term in the United States senate beginning on March 4, 
1909; and, in accordance with this popular nomination, 
he was elected senator by the legislature early in the ses- 
sion of 1908. He was elected to the seat which Senator 
Whyte, had he lived, would have vacated in 1909. Upon 
the death of Senator Whyte before the completion of his 
term, Governor Smith was elected by the general assembly, 
in the spring of 1908, to serve the unexpired portion of 
Senator Whyte's term, and he immediately qualified and 
took his seat in the United States senate. 



XLV 

EDWIN WARFIELD 

Throughout certain classic forms of musical composition 
there is one dominant strain. This primary idea may at 
times disappear in a haze of variations ; it may be lost in a 
whirl of melody that drowns the central theme; and yet, 
throughout the composition, it will appear again and again 
until it has been impressed indelibly upon the mind of the 
auditor. In much the same way, in the life of a man of 
big personality there is usually found one dominant strain. 
This something need not necessarily protrude above the 
surface of the general make-up; indeed, it may sometimes 
seem lost in a whole company of stressed strains ; still upon 
close scrutiny it will be found, in varied form perhaps or 
modified in volume, but forever dominating. For instance, 
while there were many admirable traits .in the character of 
Governor Pratt, one stood out in such strong relief that 
all the others became merely background to it, and that 
one was his honesty — honesty for state as well as for man, 
honesty in spirit no less than in word. In like manner the 
life of Governor Hamilton solved itself into one prevailing 
theme : administrative economy — a curtailment of the cost 
of running the government in order that the real burden- 
bearers of the nation, the small taxpayers, might be freed 
from oppression. And in approaching the life of Governor 
Warfield, the student is soon impressed with the theme of 
personal responsibility. Mr. Warfield 's patriotism, his ad- 
vocacy of clean poHtics, his support of the merit system, 
and every other marked feature of his administration as 



EDWIN WARFIELD 
1904-1908 




COP YR IGHT, 



E. BUCHHOLZ. 



BASED BY PERMISSION OFJUDGE COMPANY UPON COPYRIGHTED 
PHOTOGRAPH BY MRS. C. R, MILLER. 



EDWIN WARFIELD 269 

governor and of his teachings as a poHtical leader, one and 
all rest upon this dominant strain. 

Edwin Warfield was born at Oakdale, Howard county, 
on May 7, 1848. The place of his birth proved an important 
factor in the shaping of his character. For several genera- 
tions his ancestors had owned and tilled the great expanse of 
lands upon which his eyes early learned to feast, and it was 
not long before he came to feel that the old Warfields, 
though long since dead, still lingered about the place. Of the 
deeds which these progenitors performed and of the virtues 
for which they are reputed Mr. Warfield is, indeed, exceed- 
ingly proud. But he is not a pensioner on the past; 
rather he has ever regarded the accomplishments of his 
forebears as placing an increased responsibility upon him, 
rather of freeing him entirely from any requirement for 
individual effort. His father was Albert G. Warfield, of 
a line of Warfields who for several hundred years had been 
prominent in the affairs of the Old Line State, winning 
distinction in time of war and of peace. Mrs. Warfield, the 
Governor's mother, was a daughter of Col. Gassaway Wat- 
kins, who served as a member of the Maryland Line in the 
Revolutionary War and was president of the Maryland 
Society of the Cincinnati at the time of his death, 1840. 

Mr. Warfield acquired his elementary training at the pub- 
lic schools of Howard county and also at St. Timothy's Hall, 
Catonsville. With the outbreak of the Civil War, however, 
and the subsequent emancipation of negro slaves, affairs 
at Oakdale took on a somewhat different aspect, and he 
had to close his books that he might bear his share of the 
farm labor and also contribute to the family income during 
those months when the fields needed least attention. It 
was in 1866 that Mr. Warfield, then just eighteen years of 
age and with no special training as a teacher, determined 
to look to the profession of pedagogy for a livelihood. He 



270 GOVERNORS OF MARYLAND 

found , some four or five miles from his own home, a not greatly- 
coveted little country schoolhouse, which happened to be 
without a teacher, and he set about obtaining an appointment 
to this charge. He approached the school commissioners and 
asked to be appointed a probationary teacher. He frankly 
confessed that he was not then able to pass the required 
examination but gave his word that if appointed he not 
only would keep well ahead of his classes, but the following 
spring would take and pass the teacher's examination. 
He was appointed, and when the teacher's examination was 
held in the spring of 1867, Mr. Warfield made good his 
promise that he would pass it. In consequence he was pro- 
moted from a probationary to be a regular teacher, and 
continued in the work of the county schools for some years 
thereafter, at the same time reading law. He was later 
admitted to the bar. 

Throughout this time he, like the Warfields who had 
preceded him, took a large interest in public affairs. He 
worked in his own immediate neighborhood, talked for and 
against candidates and issues, and acquired some reputation 
as a speaker. It was in 1874 that he abandoned the pro- 
fession of teaching to accept a public office. The office of 
register of wills in Howard County became vacant through 
the death of the duly elected register, and Mr. Warfield was 
named to fill the unexpired term. In the next year he 
announced that he would be a candidate for a full term of 
six years and was given a larger majority at the election 
than any other candidate on the ticket. This post was 
remunerative as contrasted with the modest salary received 
as a county school-teacher, and it was also congenial to 
Mr. Warfield. As the time approached for a new election, 
however, he announced that he would not ask for another 
term, and so, in 1881, set the precedent that he has ever 
since followed — not to ask the people to return him to any 



EDWIN WARFIELD 27 I 

office in which he has just finished serving a full term by 
election. 

While Mr. Warfield declined to make another contest for 
the registership, he showed no intention of retiring from 
public life. In fact, he coupled with his declination an 
announcement that he was perfectly willing to represent 
Howard county in the upper branch of the general assem- 
bly. There was at the time a vacancy in the senate for the 
unexpired term of Arthur Pue Gorman, who had resigned a 
state senatorship to accept a seat in the United States 
senate, and it was the remaining two years of Mr. Gor- 
man's term in the upper branch of the legislature that Mr. 
Warfield coveted, and that he got in the election of i88i. 
Two years later he appeared as a candidate for a full term in 
the state senate and was elected for the four years, from 1883 
to 1887. With his appearance as a member of the general 
assembly in 1881, Mr. Warfield set up a law office in Ellicott 
City, where he looked after the interests of those who were 
willing to become his clients. Shortly after he reached out 
in his endeavor to be an influential citizen by purchasing the 
Ellicott City Times, which paper he owned and edited from 
1882 to 1886. The latter year saw him the originator and 
one of the organizers o" the Patapsco National Bank of 
Ellicott City, a financial institution with which he main- 
tained official relations until 1890. 

. Mr. Warfield took an important part in the presidential 
campaign of 1884, when the success of the democratic ticket 
carried Mr. Grover Cleveland into the White House, and 
placed in the hands of the democratic party numerous 
important and well-paying offices that required the services 
of competent and honest men. When the time came for 
appointing a successor to the retiring republican surveyor 
of the port of Baltimore, the president, naturally feeling 
kindly toward Mr. Warfield for his contribution to the party's 



272 GOVERNORS OF MARYLAND 

success, decided to nominate him for the post, although no 
appHcation had been made for it by Mr. Warfield. He was 
at this time still serving in the state senate, of which he had 
been chosen president at the session of 1886. His appoint- 
ment as surveyor was made on April 5, 1886, and he was 
apprised of his selection at about the time the general 
assembly was preparing to adjourn. In order, therefore, 
to provide for a president of the senate in event of an extra 
session or of other emergency Mr. Warfield resigned as 
excutive of the upper branch of the legislature within half 
an hour of the close of the session. Upon accepting the 
post of surveyor of the port Mr. Warfield, in deference to 
the known views of President Cleveland regarding the active 
participation of his appointees in politics, severed his con- 
nection with the democratic state central committee, of 
which he had been a member since 1878. He qualified as 
surveyor on May i, 1886, and continued in office exactly 
four years, or until May i, 1890. At about the time of his 
appointment as surveyor, Mr. Warfield was married to Miss 
Emma Nicodemus, a daughter of the late J. Courtney 
Nicodemus of Baltimore. During part of his term as 
surveyor the couple resided in Baltimore, although their 
later years have been passed chiefly at Oakdale, the beauti- 
ful Warfield homestead in Howard county. 

During the years that Mr. Warfield was surveyor the 
fortunes of war went against his party in national affairs, 
and when he stepped from office he found, so to speak, 
that he was out of paying politics. It was then that the 
idea of organizing the Fidelity and Deposit Company 
occurred to him, and he founded the Baltimore financial 
institution at the corner of Charles and Lexington streets, 
of which he has ever since been president. For the decade 
from 1889 to 1899 Mr. Warfield abstained almost totally 
from activity in politics and devoted his energy chiefly 



EDWIN WARFIELD 273 

to building up the concern with whose success or failure 
was to be linked his own fortune. There was a break, how- 
ever, in his cessation from political activity, in 1896, when 
he was chosen a delegate-at-large to the democratic national 
convention which nominated Mr. Bryan. 

In the year 1899 Mr. Warfield broke away from his 
apparent purpose to keep out of politics, and uncovered a 
secret ambition to be honored with a higher political office 
than had up to that time been given him. Before consult- 
ing either the political leaders of his party or sounding public 
sentiment to learn what his chances were for being nomi- 
nated or elected governor, he conferred with the directorate 
of his company regarding the advisability of announcing 
himself as a gubernatorial candidate. Winning the favor- 
able indorsement of his directors, he announced, somewhat 
unconventionally, that he was desirous of being his party's 
nominee for state executive. Although Mr. Warfield did 
not get the nomination in 1900, he came out of the contest 
with something of value. He learned, first of all, that the 
people generally liked him and had faith in him and that 
with a longer primary campaign he would have been able 
to show greater support. He had his determination to be 
governor reinforced, and he acquired a lot of experience in 
campaigning. Four years later he again appeared as a 
candidate for the gubernatorial nomination, and when the 
state convention was assembled he showed how much 
sentiment he had built up for himself during the interval, 
and was nominated by acclamation. The election held on 
November 3, 1903, resulted in his victory with a plurality 
of 12,625 over Mr. S. A. Williams, the republican candidate. 

The administration of Edwin Warfield began in January 
1904, when he succeeded John Walter Smith — his successful 
rival for the gubernatorial nomination in 1 899— and continued 
until January 8, 1908, when he surrendered the executive 



274 GOVERNORS OF MARYLAND 

mansion to Austin L. Crothers. This period is marked 
with events of importance in the history of Maryland. The 
issue upon which greatest interest centers is that of the 
campaign for the so-called Poe amendment — a proposal to 
change the constitution of Maryland so as to disfranchise 
the less desirable class of negroes. Mr. Warfield had 
declared in favor of such restriction, but he had from the 
first been insistent that the amendment to win his support 
must not be vague, and that the constitution as amended 
should not be negative in asserting who was not to vote, 
thus leaving the matter to the caprice of individual election 
judges. But the legislature was not in entire accord with 
the governor, and it devised an amendment which was at 
variance with his views. Mr. Warfield was completely 
ignored not only in the drafting of the bill, but in the busi- 
ness of submitting it to the people for their vote. He, 
however, promptly and fearlessly pointed out to the voters 
its danger points, which would hazard the rights of many 
white voters if the judges in any particular instance were 
disposed to prevent them from voting. He opposed the 
amendment and, more than any other man, defeated it at 
the polls 

Mr. Warfield's creed of personal responsibility inspired 
him in this instance to protect the rights of those who had 
placed him in office, and this same influence is found in his 
inauguration of the so-called pardon-courts. During his 
administration. Governor Warfield took occasion to announce 
that he was the governor of all the people. He declared 
that although a party had elected him, it did not follow that 
he was therefore that party's governor, but that he had 
been chosen to govern the people without regard to party 
affiliation. Before he became chief magistrate, executive 
clemency in Maryland was exercised whenever it was favor- 
ably importuned and wherever the governor might chance 
to be when a request for pardon won his approval. But 



EDWIN WARFIELD 275 

Mr. Warfield began the practice of hearing petitioners at a 
regularly appointed time. This court, through the news- 
papers, was open to the people, and they were given an 
opportunity to voice sentiments either for or against a 
requested pardon. None was so mighty that he could 
enter by a private passage, and none so humble that he 
would find the doors closed to him. 

To Mr. Warfield, too, more than to any other Marylander is 
due credit for popularizing primary nominations not only 
for high state officials, but also for United States senator. 
In the democratic state convention of 1907, Mr. Warfield 
advocated primary nominations of candidates for the upper 
branch of congress; and he appeared as a candidate for 
United States senator, in the fall election of 1907, despite 
the certainty of defeat under existing conditions, in order 
that he might give stability to his plan. 

At least passing mention must be made of Governor War- 
field's patriotism. No recent official of Maryland has done 
more for the spirit of patriotism within the commonwealth 
than he. He has never tired of telling of the great things 
that Marylanders of bygone days have done; he has lost 
no opportunity to impress upon men, women and children, 
the priceless heritage which they gain through being natives 
of the Old Line state. His object has been to create a 
pride for the record of the past, upon the belief that such 
pride must necessarily inspire rising generations to write as 
noble a record in the future. If there is one appropriate 
epitaph that might be placed as a memorial to Governor 
Warfie'd in the old senate chamber at Annapolis, which 
through his effort was restored to the state in which it was 
at the time when Washington there resigned his commission 
as commander-in-chief of the army, it is: " Edwin Warfield — 
a governor of Maryland, who sowed a patriotism that 
taught men, by recall. ng the glory of their ancestors, them- 
selves to become glorious." 



XLVI 

AUSTIN LANE CROTHERS 

On the whole Maryland has escaped from such dishonest 
and extravagant administration of public affairs as too 
often in American political life characterizes the manner 
in which governmental officials spend the people's money. 
There have, to be sure, been periods of legislative and 
administrative prodigality in the state, but these periods 
have usually been brief, while the reigns of economical ad- 
ministration have, happily, been more or less extended. 
Maryland has been fortunate indeed in electing to the gov- 
ernorship on more than one occasion men who were pre- 
eminently economical as public officials. For instance, 
such names as Ligon and Hamilton suggest primarily a 
faithful guardianship of public funds. And the state execu- 
tive who at present directs the administrative affairs of the 
commonwealth promises fair to win a place among those 
public servants whose greatest ambition has been to hus- 
band the people's money. Although Mr. Crothers has been 
in office too short a time to warrant conclusions as to how 
his entire administration will appear upon the records, 
he has already made a very decided impression as a man 
who will render the state a faithful account of his and his 
subordinates' stewardship of public funds. 

Austin Lane Crothers, the son of Alpheus and Margaret 
Aurelia (Porter) Crothers, was born near Conowingo, Cecil 
county, on May 17, i860. His father was a farmer, and the 
life of the agriculturist is not unknown to the governor, 
though he was early attracted to a professional career rather 
than to life on the farm. He studied at the Cecil county 








AUSTIN LANE CROTHERS 
1908- 




COPYRIGHT, 190a. BY H. E. BU 



AUSTIN LANE CROTHERS 277 

public school, and later attended West Nottingham Acad- 
emy; but hand in hand with the development of his mind 
came a growth of the body such as healthy farm labor best 
produces. When Mr. Crothers had reached manhood, he 
was about six feet tall and possessed of a fine physique. 
At the same time he had given sufficient time to his studies 
to justify his appointment as a teacher in the public schools 
of Cecil county. 

The promises of a pedagogical career were not strong enough 
to hold Mr. Crothers, and he turned from teaching to a study 
of law, and was graduated in 1890 from the law depart- 
ment of the University of Maryland. Upon being admitted 
to the bar, he began to practice law in Elkton, the county- 
seat of Cecil. At the same time he took a larger interest 
in the political affairs of his immediate neighborhood, 
where he had already won a footing as a political factor in 
democratic circles. Within a year after graduation, he 
was nominated and elected state's attorney for Cecil county, 
and served in that office from 1 891 to 1895. In 1897 Mr. 
Crothers was elected to the state senate to succeed his 
brother, the late Charles C. Crothers. His appearance as a 
legislative candidate was at the time when the democratic 
party generally met defeat in Maryland, but Mr. Crothers 
was successful. 

Upon his entrance into the state senate, early in 1898, 
Mr. Crothers assumed a position of prominence among the 
democratic members of the upper branch of the general 
assembly. By the time the next session of the legislature 
was held, 1900, the democrats had succeeded in gaining 
control of the two houses, and Mr. Crothers once more be- 
came a central figure. His leadership, however, had been 
changed from that of the minority — in which he had had 
the aid of John Walter Smith and Joshua W. Hering — to 
that of a majority — in which he was more or less alone, 



278 GOVERNORS OF MARYLAND 

since Mr. Smith had retired from the legislature to become 
governor and Mr. Hering had been chosen comptroller of 
the state. 

In the years during which Mr. Crothers was filling his term 
in the state senate there arose differences among the factions 
of the party in his district, and although he succeeded in 
1 90 1 and again in 1905 in winning the nomination for state 
senator, in both elections he met .with defeat. He had, 
however, by this time succeeded in establishing beyond 
dispute his leadership of the party's forces within his sec- 
tion, and he was the acknowledged democratic leader of 
Cecil county. Meanwhile he steadily advanced in his chosen 
profession, and made for himself a large reputation as 
an attorney. Upon the death of Judge Edwin H. Brown, 
on March 28, 1906, Governor Warfield appointed Mr. Cro- 
thers associate judge of the second circuit for the unexpired 
term extending to 1908. Shortly after he took his seat 
upon the bench, Judge Crothers announced that he would 
not be a candidate for reelection. 

Up to this time Mr. Crothers had not been largely in the 
limelight. His legislative career, which had been brought 
to a close in 1901, had been somewhat forgotten by the peo- 
ple, while his subsequent political activities did not spread 
his name far past his own territory, except perhaps among 
political leaders. His duties on the bench, or course, were 
of such a character as not to afford him opportunity to 
engage much in political affairs. He was, however, brought 
prominently before the people of Maryland by the democra- 
tic state convention which, on August 8, 1907, named him 
as its nominee for governor. 

The campaign which followed was noteworthy for two 
things. The first, that when Judge Crothers was notified of 
his nomination at the Lyric, September 19, he had come 
from a bed of sickness to attend the meeting, and within a 



AUSTIN LANE CROTHERS 279 

short while thereafter was stricken with typhoid fever, 
which kept him from active participation in the campaign. 
The other feature was the personal attacks made by his 
opponents upon his character and record — attacks which, 
because disproved, did much to win for him support from 
those who might otherwise have taken but a negative inter- 
est in the campaign. On November 5, 1907, Mr. Crothers 
was elected by a majority of about 8,000 votes over George 
R. Gaither, republican ; and he succeeded Governor Warfield 
as chief magistrate of Maryland on January 8, 1908. 

In striking contrast to Governor Crothers' forced inactivity 
during the campaign that resulted in his election, was his 
unusual industry in winning for the state certain desirable 
measures during the legislative session which attended the 
opening of his administration. Bearing in mind his early 
life and association with agriculturists, it is not surprising 
that the two things that have become to him practically 
"hobbies" are features that appeal first of all to the farmer. 
Economy in administration is the strongest recommenda- 
tion that can be made for a candidate to the rural voter. 
To the agriculturist taxes mean much more than they do to 
the city man, and whoever is able and willing to see that 
public funds are not squandered by extravagance on the 
part of governmental oflficials is sure to win the farmer's 
support. And next in importance to the voter of the farm 
is the question of good roads. 

Governor Crothers has long been an advocate of liberal 
investment by the state in beneficial internal improvements. 
He supported the good road clause in the party's platform in 
1907; he stressed it on the occasion of accepting the nomi- 
nation for governor, and during the session of the legislature 
in the opening months of 1908 he fought, bravely and suc- 
cessfully, for a bill that would give the state a high class of 
public highways. As a result there wasappropriated $5,000,- 



28o GOVERNORS OF MARYLAND 

ooo for the improvement of public roads in Maryland, and 
of this expenditure the farmer will be the greatest benefici- 
ary. But while Governor Crothers has favored a bill 
setting aside $5,000,000 for good roads, he has been con- 
stantly alert since taking the oath of office to see that 
the various departments of the state government practice 
strictest economy in spending the people's money, and the 
opening months of his governorship appear as the forerun- 
ner of a reform movement that shall correct the negligence 
in money matters which usually characterizes the manage- 
ment of governmental departments and public institutions. 
Mr. Crothers is unmarried. While his official residence 
during his term in office must be Annapolis, his occupancy 
of the executive mansion has so far been only nominal. 
He has established an office in Baltimore, where he transacts 
much of the state's business, and he also maintains head- 
quarters in Elkton, where he makes his home. 



APPENDIX A 
GUBERNATORIAL ELECTIONS IN MARYLAND 



No. 



Date. 



Method. 
[Legislative or 
popular vote]. 



Candidates with vote for each. 
[* Indicates successful candidate]. 



2. Nov. 10, 

3. Nov. 9 

4. Nov. 8 

5. Nov. 13 

6. Nov. 19 

7. Nov. 15 

8. Nov. 22 

9. Nov. 24 

10. Nov. 17 

11. Nov. 30 

12. Nov. 22 

13. Nov. 10 



1. Feb. 13, 1777 Leg. *Thos. Johnson, 40— S. Chase, 9— M. Tilghman, 

1 — Geo. Plater, 1 — Wm. Paca, 1. 

1777 " *Thos. Johnson — unanimous. 

1778 " *Thos. Johnson — opponents not named. 

1779 " *T. S. Lee — Col. Edward Lloyd. 

1780 " *T. S. Lee — unanimous. 

1781 " *T. S. Lee — unanimous. 

1782 " *Wm. Paca — Danl. or St. Thos. Jenifer. 

1783 " *Wm. Paca — unanimous. 

1784 " *Wm. Paca — unanimous. 

1785 " *Wm. Smallwood — Danl. of St. Thos. Jenifer. 

1786 " *Wm. Smallwood — unanimous. 

1787 " *Wm Smallwood — unanimous. 

1788 " *Thos. Johnson [declined to serve]. — John E. 
Howard. 

1788 " *JoHN E. Howard — opponents not named. 

1789 " *JoHN E. Howard — unanimous. 

1790 " *JoHN E. Howard — -unanimous. 

1791 " *Geo. Plater — unanimous [died in office]. 

1792 " *T. S. Lee — Benj. Ogle — Nicholas Carroll. 

1792 " *T. S. Lee — unanimous. 

1793 " *T. S. Lee — unanimous. 

1794 " *J. H. Stone — LeviN Winder. 

1795 " *J. H. Stone — unanimous. 

1796 " *J. H. Stone — unanimous. 

1797 " *John Henry — unanimous. 

1798 " *T. S. Lee — unanimous [Declined to serve]. 

1798 " *Benj. Ogle — Nicholas Carroll. 

1799 " *Bbnj. Ogle — unanimous. 

1800 " *Benj. Ogle — unanimous. 

1801 " *J. M. Mercer, 59 — James Murray, 26. 

1802 " *J. M. Mercer, 53 — James Murray, 22. 

1803 " *RoBT. Bowie — unopposed. 

1804 " *RoBT. Bowie — unopposed. 

1805 " *RoBT. Bowie — unopposed. 

1806 " *R. Wright, 59 — Chas. Carroll, 11 — John E. 

Howard, 3 — T. Johnson, 1. 

35. Nov. 9, 1807 " *R. Wright, 56 — Chas. Carroll, 7 — J.E.Howard 

7 — Weight, 1. 



14. Nov. 21 

15. Nov. 16 

16. Nov. ' 8 

17. Nov. 14 

18. Apr. 4 

19. Nov. 4 

20. Nov. 15 

21. Nov. 17 

22. Nov. 9 

23. Nov. 15 

24. Nov. 13 

25. Nov. 12 

26. Nov. 14 

27. Nov. 18 

28. Nov. 10 

29. Nov. 9 

30. Nov. 8 

31. Nov. 14 

32. Nov. 20 

33. Nov. 11 

34. Nov. 10 



APPENDIX A 



No 


Date 


Method 


36. 


Nov. 


14, 


1808 Leg. 


37. 


June 


5, 


1809 


38. 


Nov. 


13, 


1809 


39. 


Nov. 


19, 


1810 


40. 


Nov. 


11, 


1811 


41. 


Nov. 


12, 


1812 


42. 


Dec. 


14, 


1813 


43. 


Dec. 


12, 


1814 


44. 


Dec. 


11, 


1815 


45. 


Dec. 


9, 


1816 


46. 


Dec. 


8, 


1817 


47. 


Dec. 


14, 


1818 


48. 


Dec. 


13, 


1819 


49. 


Dec. 


11, 


1820 


50. 


Dec. 


8, 


1821 


51. 


Dec. 


9, 


1822 


62. 


Dec. 


8, 


1823 


53. 


Dec. 


13, 


1824 


54. 


Jan. 


2, 


1826 


55. 


Jan. 


1, 


1827 


56. 


Jan. 


7, 


1828 


57. 


Jan. 


5, 


1829 


58. 


Jan. 


4, 


1830 


59. 


Jan. 


3, 


1831 


60. 


Jan. 


2, 


1832 


61. 


Jan. 


7, 


1833 


62. 


Jan. 


4, 


1834 


63. 


Jan. 


5, 


1835 


64. 


Jan. 


4, 


1836 


65. 


Jan. 


2, 


1837 


66. 


Jan. 


1, 


1838 


67. 


Oct. 


3, 


1838 Pop. 


68. 


Oct. 


6, 


1841 


69. 


Oct. 


4, 


1844 


70. 


Oct. 


6, 


1847 


71. 


Oct. 


2, 


1850 


72. 


Nov. 


2, 


1853 


73. 


Nov. 


4, 


1857 


74. 


Nov. 


6, 


1861 


75. 


Nov. 


8, 


1864 


76. 


Nov. 


5, 


1867 


77. 


Nov. 


7, 


1871 



Candidates with vote for each. 
*R. Wright — unopposed [resigned May 6, 1809J. 
♦Edward Lloyd — unopposed. 
*Edward Lloyd — unopposed. 
*Edward Lloyd — unopposed. 
*RoBT. Bowie — -John E. Howard. 
*Levin Winder, 52 — Robt. Bowie, 29. 
*Levin Winder, 48 — Robt. Bowie, 28. 
*Levin Winder, 48 — Robt. Bowie, 23. 
*Chas. Ridgely, 47 — Robt. Bowie, 45. 
*Chas. Ridgely, 62 — Robt. Bowie. 17. 
*Chas. Ridgely — unopposed. 
*C. GoLDSBOROUGH, 49 — Frisby Tilghman, 44. 
*Saml. Sprigg, 49 — Chas. Goldsborough, 36. 
*Saml. Sprigg, 48 — Chas. Goldsborodgh, 46. 
*Saml. Sprigg — unopposed. 
*Saml. Stevens, Jr, 63 — Jas. B. Robins, 16. 
*Saml. Stevens, Jr. — unopposed. 
*Saml. Stevens, Jr. — unopposed. 
*J. Kent — -Wm. Tyler. 
*J. Kent, 84 — opponents not named. 
*J. Kent, 80 — Benedict I. Semmes,! — Blanks, 3. 
*D. Martin, 52 — Geo. E. Mitchell, 38. 
*T. K. Carroll, 50— D. Martin, 43. 
*D. Martin, 50 — blanks 32 [died in office]. 
*Geo. Howard, 64 — Nich. Brewer, 5 — blanks 13. 
*Jas. Thomas, 62 — John S. Stoddart, 2, John (?) 

Thomas, 1 — blanks, 21. 
*Jas. Thomas, 48— Ed. Llotd, 46 — W. H. Mar- 
riott, 1. 
*Jas. Thomas, 67 — Jos. Weast, 1 — Joshua Jones, 

2— blanks 13. 
*T. W. Veazey, 53— blanks, 23. 
*T. W. Veazey, 70 — blanks, 9 — scattering, 2. 
*T. W. Veazey, 52 — blanks, 24 — scattering, 5. 
*Wm.Grason,27,720 — John Nevitt Steele,27,409 
*Francis Thomas. 28,986 — AVm. Cost Johnson, 

28,321. 
*T. G. Pratt, 35,038— Jas. Carroll, 34,492. 
*P. F. Thomas, 34,388— Wm. T. Goldsborough, 

33,679. 
*E. L. Lowe, 35,292— Wm. B. Clarke, 33,800. 
*T. W. LiGON, 38,730— Rich. J. Bowie. 34,557. 
*T. H. Hicks, 44,762— John C. Groome, 36,127. 
*A. W. Bradford, 57,501 — Benj. C. Howard, 

26,070. 
*Tho8. Swann, 40,579 — Ezekiel F. Chambers, 

32,068. 
*Oden Bowie, 63,602 — Hugh L. Bond, 21.890. 
*Wm. p. Whyte, 73.903— Jacob Tome, 58,815 

[Gov. Whyte resigned in 1874]. 



APPENDIX A. 283 

No. Date. Method. Candidates with vote for each. 

78. Feb. 4, 1874 Leg. *J. B. Groomb, 75— John E. Smith, 18. 

79. Nov. 2, 1875 Pop. *J. L. Carroll, 85,454 — J. Morrison Harris. 

72,530. 

80. Nov. 4, 1879 " *W. T. Hamilton, 90,771— Jas. A. Gary, 68,609. 

81. Nov. 6, 1883 " *R. M. McLane, 92,694— Hart B. Holton, 80,707 

[Gov. McLane resigned in 18851. 

82. Jan. 20, 1886 Leg. *Hy. Lloyd, 100— Robt. B. Dixon, 14. 

83. Nov. 8. 1887 Pop. *E. E. Jackson, 99,038— Walter B. Brooks, 

86,622— Summerfield Baldwin, 4,416. 

84. Nov. 3, 1891 " *Frank Brown, 108,530— Wm. J. Vannort, 78,388 

— Edwin Higgins, 5,120. 

85. Nov. 5, 1895 " *Lloyd Lowndes, 124,936— John E. Hurst, 

106,169 — Joshua Levering, 7,719 — H. Frank- 
lin Andrew, 1,281. 

86. Nov. 7, 1899 " *J. W. Smith, 128,409— L. Lowndes, 116,286— 

Jas. Swann, 5,275 — John A. Rugemer, 420 — 
Levin T. Jones, 432— Wm. N. Hill, 367. 
87 Nov. 3, 1903 " *Edwin Warfield, 108,548— S. A. Williams, 

95,923 — Wm. Gisriel 2,913 — Silas M. Crabill 
1,302. 
88. Nov. 5, 1907 " *A. L. Crothers, 102,051 — G. R. Gaither, 94,- 

300 Jas. W. Frizzell, 3,776— Ira Gulp, 1,310 



APPENDIX B. 

ADMINISTRATIONS IN MARYLAND 1777-1908. 

No. Governor or acting governor. Duration of Administration. 



rl777 (Marcli21) 
2 Thomas Sim Lee (1) [] 



1 Thomas Johnson f, „' ' ,.^ 

1=1779 (November 12) 



„ „r-ir D M782 (November 22) 

3 William Paca ^o^ ,xt , ^Z-. 

. xjT-M- o 11 J rl785 (November 26) 

4 William Smallwood [,^00 )xt , ^.i 

, T 1, 17 XT J rl'88 (November 24) 

5 John Eager Howard [,„_, ,.^ _, , ' 

„ „ „, . rl/91 (November 14) 

6 George Plater [ / 

„ T r> ■ 1 1/92 (February 13) 

6a James Brice 1-1792 (A ril 5) 

[Acting-governor pending the election of a successor 

to Governor Plater.] . 

7 Thomas Sim Lee (2). [ 'o! ^^ i 1.^ 

D T I. TT 1 • oi. rl794 (November 14) 

8 John Hoskins Stone L _„^ .-^ , , _. 

„ T I, XT rl/97 (November 1() 

9 John Henry [ 

,/i x> • • ,-v 1 hn98 (November 14) 

10 Benjarmn Ogle [,„, ,„ , ,.. 

, , T u T^ ■ n/r hlSOl (November 10) 

11 John Francis Mercer [, ono /m u i ca 

12 Robert Bowie (1) «n« n°""k'' 5 

13 Robert Wright fno f^vember 12) 

,o T T> ^ f [1809 (May 6 

13a James Butcher [1809 (J 9) 

[Acting-governor pending the election of a successor '■ 
to Governor Wright.] 



14 Edward Lloyd [,„,, ... , ,., 

15 Robert Bowie (2) P" (November 16) 



16 Levin Winder [ 

17 Charles Carnan Ridgely [ 



1809 (June 9) 

1811 (Novemb 

1812 (November 25) 



1816 (January 2) 
1819 (January 8) 



18 Charles Goldsborough [,oin /t^ u on^ 

,- CI lo • rl819 (December 20) 

19 Samuel Sprigg I 

„« o 1 ol T tl822 (December 16) 

20 Samuel Stevens, Jr Liooa /t nx 

oi T u t.' ^ ^1826 (January 9) 

21 Joseph Kent l,oon/T ir:\ 

oo T-. • 1 ivj .■ /l^ hl829 (January 15) 

22 Daniel Martin (1) Lioon/r 1cl^ 

oo T^u T- /-. II rl830 (January 15) 

23 Thomas King Carroll [,„„, ,^ •' ,„. 

CA T^ • 1 i>T i- rn\ 9831 (January 13) 

24 Daniel Martin (2). [ "^ 

„(. _, rr . kl831 (July 22) 

25 George Howard I,ooo ,t -tn 

_- T T.. tl833 (January i7) 

26 James Thomas L,oqc/t ,^^ 

OT T-u irr J ,7 H836 (January 14) 

27 Thos. Ward Veazey I, cor, ,t -t\ 

oo nirii- n fl839 (January 7) 

28 William Grason Lio^o/t o^ 

on r- • rri, hl842 (Januarys) 

29 Francis Thomas Lo«r /t o\ 

o« rrv /-, T> x^ M845 (January 6) 

30 Thomas George Pratt ,c,^„ ,-, ox 

•3 1 -Du-y c • rri, ~ ^1848 (Januarys) 

31 Philip f rancis Thomas ,0,., /t /.\ 

00 17 V. T ■ T rl851 (January 6) 

32 tnoch Louis Lowe , o^ . ,t ■...•, 

00 T,, „ 1X7 ti • T- tl854 (January 11) 

33 Thomas Watkins Ligon Loro /t io\ 

„. T,, „ ii-j xj- 1 1=1858 (January 13) 

34 Thomas Holliday Hicks L _„„ -^ o\ 

■■1862 (January 8) 



APPENDIX B 285 



No. Governor or acting governor. Duration of Administration. 

„ „ ,, , rl862 (January 8) 

35 Augustus W. Bradford L,oco /r in\ 

„ ^, ^ rl866 (January 10) 

36 Thomas bwann Li oor> /t ion 

. k869 (January 13) 

37 Oden Bowie. . Lg.g (January 10) 

38 \\m. Pmkney ^Miyte Lg^^ ^j^^^^^j^ ^^ 

39 Jas. Black Groome Lic^c ir .ion 

^1876 (January 12) 

40 John Lee Carroll Lioon ^t -ia\ 

..i w rp. Tj -u M^SO (January 14) 

41 Wm. Thos. Hamilton L, 00^ zt n\ 

.« T, , . I,,-,!- ,, X fl884 (January 9) 

42 Robert Milligan McLane I , „„_ ,,, , „-7s 

Ti J r^^^^ (March 27) 

43 Henry Lloyd [^ggg (January 11) 

[Acting-governor from March 27, 1885, to January 21, 

1886, when he was inaugurated governor after hav- 
ing been elected successor to Governor McLane.l ,000 /T lis 
.A -c-u -c^ T 1 rl888 (January 11) 

44 Elihu Emory Jackson I , „_„ , , , „ > 

■' tl892 (January 13) 

45 Frank Brown I , cn^ ,t o\ 

tlS96 (January 8) 

46 Lloyd Lowndes Lir.r>r> rr -,n\ 

.-, T u «- u a -^u M900 (January 10) 

47 John \\ alter Smith I,nr>^ /t iq\ 

..o •c'j ■ w c ij 1-1904 (January 13) 

48 Edwin Warneld Lirv/-vo ,r o\ 

tl908 (January 8) 

49 Austin Lane Urothers \_ 



APPI 

BIOGRAPHICAL C 



Name 



Born 



PARE^ 



Thomas Johnson 
Thomas Sim Lee 
William Paca 
William Smallwood 
John Eager Howard 
George Plater 
John Hoskins Stone 
Joiin Henry 
Benjamin Ogle 



10 John Francis Mercer 

11 Robert Bowie 

12 Robert Wright 

13 Edward Lloyd 

14 Levin Winder 

15 Charles Carnan Ridgely 

16 Charles Goldsborough 

17 Samuel Sprigg 

18 Samuel Stevens, Jr. 

19 ; Joseph Kent 

20 ; Daniel Martin 

21 Thomas King Carroll 

22 George Howard 

23 i James Thomas 

24 I Thomas Ward Veazey 

25 William Grason 

26 I Francis Thomas 

27 I Thomas George Pratt 

28 ' Philip Francis Thomas 

29 Enoch Louis Lowe 

30 ! Thomas Watkins Ligon 

31 j Thomas Holliday Hicks 

32 ! Augustus Williamson Bradford 

33 Thomas Swann 



36 



Oden Bowie 

William Pinkney Whyte 



James Black Groome 

37 John Lee Carroll 

38 I William Tliomas Hamilton 

39 Robert Milligan McLane 

40 Henry Lloyd 

41 ; Elilui Emory Jackson 

42 ! Frank Brown 

43 : Lloyd Lowndes 

44 I John Walter Smith 

45 Edwin AVarfield 

46 ! Austin Lane Crothers 



Nov. 


4, 


1732 


Oct. 


29. 


1745 


Oct. 


31, 


1740 
1732 


June 


4, 


1752 


Nov. 


8, 


1735 
1745 
17.50 


Feb. 


7, 


1746 


May 


17, 


1759 


Mar. 




1750 


Nov. 


20, 


1752 


Julv 


22, 


1779 


Sept. 


4, 


1757 


Dec. 


6, 


1760 


July 


15, 


1760 


1782 


or 


1783 


July 


13, 


1778 


Jan. 


14, 


1779 
1780 


Apr. 


29, 


1793 


Nov. 


21, 


1789 


Mar. 


11, 


1785 


Jan. 


31, 


1774 
1786 


Feb. 


3, 


1799 


Feb. 


18, 


1804 


Sept. 


12, 


1810 


Aug. 


10, 


1820 
1812 


Sept. 


2, 


1798 


Jan. 


9, 


1806 


1805 


or 


1806 


Nov. 


10, 


1826 


Aug. 


9, 


1824 


Apr. 


4, 


1838 


Sept. 


30, 


1830 


Sept. 


8, 


1820 


June 


23, 


1815 


Feby 


21 


1852 


Nov. 


3, 


1837 


Aug. 


8, 


1846 


Feby 


21 


1845 


Feby 


5 


1845 


May 


7, 


1848 


May, 


17, 


1860 



Thos. and Dorcas (Sedgew 
Thos. and Christiana (Sim 
John and Elizabeth P. 
Bayne and Priscilla (Hebei 
Cornelius and Ruth (Eage 
Geo. and Rebecca (Addis 
David and Elizabeth (Jer 
John and Dorothy (Rider 
Samuel and Ann (Tasker) 

Robert and Ann (Roy) M 
Wm. and Margaret (Sprig 
Solomon and Mary (Tidmj 
Edward and Elizabeth (1 
Wm. and Esther (Gillis) ^ 
John and Acsah (Ridgely 
Chas. and Anna Maria (T 

Jos. and (?) Margaret El 
John and Elizabeth (ConD 

Daniel and K. 

Nicholas and Hannah (01 
Hy. Jas. and Elizabeth B 
John Eager and Margaret 
Wm. and Catherine (Boai 
Edward and Elizabeth (E- 

Rich, and G. 

Francis and Nellie (Magill 
Thos. and Eleanor (Magru 
Tristram and Maria (Frar 
Bradley S. A. and'Adelaic 
Thos. D. and (Watkins) 
Hy. C. and Mary (Sewell) 

Samuel and Jane (Bond) 
Thos. and Jane Byrd (Pi 

Wm. D. and Mary Eliza I; 
Jos. and Isabella Pinkney 

John Charles and Elizaba 
Chas. and Mary Digges ( 
Henry and Anna Mary II. 
Louis and Catherine M. I 
Daniel and Kitty (Henry 
Hugh and Sallv (McBride 
Stephen T. Cockey and S< 
Lloyd and Marie (Moore) 
John Walter and Charlotti 
Albert G. and Margaret i 
Alpheus and Margaret An 



IX c 

' OF GOVERNORS 





Marriage 


Died 


o 




Ann Jennings 


Oct. 26, 


1819 


1 




Mary Digges 


Nov. 9, 


1819 


2 




(1) Mary Lloyd, (2) Anne Harrison 




1799 


3 




Bachelor 


Feb. 14, 


1792 


4 




Margaret Chew 


Oct. 12, 


1827 


5 




(1) Hannah Lee, (2) Elizabeth Rousby 


Feb. 10, 


1792 


6 




(?) Couden 


Oct. 5, 


1804 


7 




Margaret Campbell 


Dec. 16, 


1798 


8 




(1) Rebecca Stilley, (2) Henrietta Margaret 










Hill 


July 6, 


1809 


9 




Sophia Sprigg 


Aug. 20, 


1821 


10 




Priscilla Mackall 


Jan. 8, 


1818 


11 


I 


(1) Sarah de Courcy, (2) Miss Ringgold 


Sept. 7, 


1826 


12 


L. 


Sally Scott Murray 


June 2, 


1834 


13 




Mary Sloss 


July 1, 


1819 


14 


1 


Priscilla Dorsey 


July 17, 


1829 


15 


) G. 


(1) Elizabeth Goldsborough, (2) Sarah Yer- 










bury Goldsborough 


Dec. 13, 


1834 


16 


ems) S. 


Violette Landsale 


Apr. 21, 


1855 


17 




Eliza May 


Feb. 7, 


18601 18 




(1) Eleanor Lee Wallace, (2) Alice Lee Contee 


Nov. 24, 


1839 19 


I. 


Mary Clare Maccubin 


Jan. 11, 


1831 20 


C. 


Julianna Stevenson 


Oct. 3, 


1873 1 21 


a. 


Prudence Gough Ridgely 


Aug. 2, 


1846 ! 22 


, 


Elizabeth Coates 


Dec. 25, 


1845 23 


»y) V. 


(1) SarahWorrell,(2)Mary Veazey, (3) Mary 








Wallace 


July . 1, 


1842 24 




Susan Orrick Sulivane 


July 2, 


1868 1 25 




Sally McDowell 


Jan. 23, 


1876 26 




Adelaide Kent 


Nov. 9, 


1869! 27 




(1) Sarah Maria Kerr, (2) Mrs. Clintonia May 


Oct. 2, 


1890 ; 28 


ndifere) L. 


Esther Winder Polk 


Aug. 23, 


1892 29 




(1) SalUe Dorsey, (2) Mary Tolly Dorsey 


Jan. 12, 


1881 


30 




(1) Anna Thompson, (2) Leah Raleigh, (3) 










Mrs. Mary Wilcox 


Feb. 13, 


1865 


31 




Ehzabeth Kell 


Mar. 1, 


1881 


32 




(1) Elizabeth Gilmor Sherlock, (2) Mrs. John 










R. Thompson 


July 24, 


1883 


33 


. 


Alice Carter 


Dec. 4, 


1894 


34 




(1) Louisa D. HoUingswortb, (2) Mrs. Raleigh 










Thomas 


Mar. 17, 


1908 35 


k) G. 


Alice L. Edmondson 


Oct. 4, 


1893 36 




(1) Anita Phelps, (2) Mary Carter Thompson 




37 


H. 


Clara Jenness 


Oct. 26, 


1888' 38 


McL. 


Georgine Urquhart 


Apr. 16, 


1898 ,39 




Mary Elizabeth Stapleforte 




40 


j 


Nannie Rider 


Dec. 27, 


1907 


41 


Bennett) B. 


Mrs. Mary (Ridgely) Preston 






42 


; 


Elizabeth Tasker Lowndes 


Jan. 8, 


1905 


43 


iigton) S. 


Mary Frances Richardson 






44 


dns) W. 


Emma Nicodemus 






45 


i;er) C. 


Bachelor 






46 



INDEX 



Acting-governor, 235, 236. 238, 284 §6a, 

284 §13a. 
Addison (Plater), Rebecca, 286 §6. 
Adams, Pres. John, opinion of Governor 

Johnson, 3; mentioned, 4. 
Adams, Pres. John Q., attends Governor 

Howard's funeral, 31. 
Alvey, Rich. H., 224. 
Allegheny College attended by Governor 

Lowndes, 256. 
American Party. {See Know-nothing.) 
Annapolis (1774) Convention, 4. 
Andrew, H. Franklin, 283 §85. 
Anti-federalist party, 26. 
April 19 (1861) riot, 174-176. 
Apportionment in legislature — dispute 

over, 77-78; agitation for reform, 93; 

readjustment of, 137. 
Archer, Stevenson, defalcation, 246. 
Articles of Confederation, 81. 
Assessment bill defeated, 254. 

Bank of Maryland failure, 122; riot, 122- 
123. 

Baughman, John W., 159. 

Baughman, L. Victor, 245. 

Baker (Johnson), Mary, 3. 

Baldwin, Summerfield, 283 §83. 

Baltimore. Riot of 1812: 62, 75-76; 
misinterpreted, 57; effect upon repub- 
lican party, 62, 81; Governor Bowie 
and, 62; threatened by British, 31, 79; 
agitation to increase representation, 
89; Bank of Maryland riot, 122-123; 
Know-nothing riots, 187-188; Massa- 
chusetts soldiers mobbed, 174-176. 
Thomas Swann, mayor: accomplish- 
ments of administration, 184, 186; 
street railway inaugurated, 186; public 
parks, 186; fire department, 186; police 
commissioners removed, 189-190. Wil- 
liam Pinkney Whyte mayor: 204-205; 
"New Judge" movement, 205; water 
department improved, 205. Balti- 
more and Ohio strike: 213-214, 217- 
219; Camden station fired. 219. Frank 
Brown postmaster, 250-251; postal ser- 
vice improved, 250-251; Baltimore 
Traction Company, 254; new sewerage, 
265-266; city rewarded, 266; charter 
commission, 206. Thomas G. Hayes, 
mayor, 254. J. Barry Mahool, mayor, 
254. 

Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. Rea- 
sons for projecting, 102; original plans 
for locomotion, 102; favored by Gover- 



nor Kent, 101; meeting of projectors, 
102; charter granted, 102; Governor 
Martin interested, 107; Maryland's 
financial aid, 126; completed to Ohio 
river, 161; collection of state arrears, 
196; opposition of Chesapeake and 
Ohio canal, 121-122; opposition to Bal- 
timore and Potomac, 194-196; strike 
of 1877, 213-214, 217-219; Louis Mc- 
Lane president, 228; Thomas Swann 
president, 184, 186. 

Baltimore and Potomac Railroad. Oden 
Bowie president, 194; opposition of 
Baltimore and Ohio, 194. 

Baltimore City Passenger Railway, 196- 
197. 

Bennett (Brown), Susan A., 249. 286 §42. 

Black (Groome), Elizabeth, 209, 286 §36. 

Blair, Montgomery, 211. 

Boarman (Thomas), Catherine, 119, 286 
§23. 

Bond, Hugh L., 282 §76. 

Bond (Bradford), Jane, 179, 286 §32. 

Bordley, Stephen, 3, 15. 

Boston, congress for relief of, 16. 

Boundary dispute between Maryland and 
Virginia, 203. 

Bowie, Hannah Lee, 91. 

Bowie, Rev. John, school of, 96. 

Bowie, Oden sketch. 192-197; (first gover- 
nor under constitution of 1867, 192, 
195-196; ancestry and education, 193; 
in Mexican war, 193; defeated for gen- 
eral assembly, 193; elected to legisla- 
ture, 193; marriage, 193-194; home 
life, 194, 197; and Baltimore and Poto- 
mac Railroad, 194, defeated for lieuten- 
ant governor 195; advocates constitu- 
tional reform 195, governor, 195-196; 
president Baltimore City Passenger 
Railway, 196-197; Maryland Jockey 
Club, 197; death, 197). 202, 282 §76, 

285 §37, 286 §34. 

Bowie, Richard J., 167, 282 §72. 

Bowie, Robert, sketch. 57-63 (character- 
istics, 58; birth, 58; romantic marriage, 
58; activities before Revolution, 58-59; 
Revolutionary soldier, 59; elected to 
legislature, 59; governor, 60-61; second 
administration, 61-62; favors war with 
England, 61-62; Baltimore riot and, 
62; defeated for governor, 62-63; death, 
63. Mentioned, 65; second administra- 
tion, 76, 77, 281 §31, §32, §33, 282 §40, 
§41, §42, §43, §44, §45; 284 §12, §15; 

286 §11. 



290 



INDEX 



Bowie, Captain William, 58, 286 §11. 

Bowie, Col. Wm. D., 193, 286 §34. 

Boyle, Edmeralda, quoted 8. 

Bradford, Augustus Williamson, sketch, 
178-183 (boyhood, 179; supports Clay, 
179-180; marriage, 180; union speech 
of, 180; election as governor, 18(>-181; 
labors to preserv'e union, 181-182; con- 
flict with federal troops, 182; mansion 
burned, 183; surveyor of port of Balti- 
more, 183; death, 183). Hicks' letter 
to, 175; appoints Hicks to U. S. senate, 
177; 282 §74, 285 §35, 286 §32. 

Bradford, Samuel, 179, 286 §32. 

Bradley, Stephen J., 135. 

Brandywine, battle of: Governor Wright 
and, 66; Governor Mercer and, 52. 

Breckinridge, John C, 162. 

Brewer, Nicholas, 117, 282 §60. 

Brice, James, acting-governor, 235-236; 
284 §6a. 

Brooke, Commander Robert, 119. 

Brooks, Walter B., 245, 283 §83. 

Brown, Abel, 249. 

Brown and Brune, 199, 215. 

Brown, Judge Edwin H., 278. 

Brown, Frank, sketch, 248-254 (boyhood, 

249, election to house of delegates, 249; 
legislative career, 250; postmaster of 
Baltimore, 250; elected governor, 251; 
administration, 251-254; marriage, 254; 
poUtical activities, 1895-1908, 254). 
Appoints Governor Lloyd judge, 240, 
283 §84, 285 §45; 286 §42. 

Brown, Mayor George Wm., 174-175. 

Brown, James, 222. 

Brown, Stephen T. Cockey, 249; death of, 

250, 286 §42. 
r.ryan, Wm. J., 273. 

Eiirhanan, Pres. James, 149, 162; appoints 
Gov. P. F. Thomas commissioner of 
patents, 155, and secretary of treasury, 
155; election of, 231-232; appoints 
Governor McLane minister to Mexico, 
235-236. 

Butcher, James, acting-governor, 68, 235- 
236; 284 §13a. 

Butler, General B. F., 172. 

Byrd, William, 185. 

Calverts, Gov. James Thomas, descended 
from, 119. 

Cameron, Simon, 176-177. 

Camden, battle of, 28; Gates retirement, 
23. 

Camden Station, fired, 219. 

Campbell (Henry), Margaret, 45, 287 §8. 

Carmichael, Rich. B., 132. 

Carnan, Charles Ridgely. (See Governor 
Ridgely. ) 

Carnan, John, 82, 286 §15. 

Carroll, Charles, 281 §34, §35. 

Carroll, Chas., brother of Gov. J. L. Car- 
roll, 216. 

Carroll, Col. Chas., 215, 216, 286 §37. 

Carroll of CarroUton, Chas.. 17; elected 
U. S. senator, 43; favors Baltimore and 
Ohio Railroad, 102; mentioned, 214; 



Maryland's most famous citizen, 215; 
buried at Doughoregan, 216. 

Carroll, Capt. Hy., 109. 

Carroll, Hy. Jas., 109-110; 286 §21. 

Carroll, James, 146, 282 §69. 

Carroll, John Lee, sketch, 213-220 (chief 
feature of administration, 213-214; 
birth and ancestry. 214-215; education, 
215; marriage, 215-216; defeated for 
legislature, 215; residence in New York, 
216; legislative career, 216-217; elected 
governor, 217; Baltimore and Ohio 
strike, 213-214; 217-219; second mar- 
riage, 219; later years, 220). Succeeds 
Groome, 210; defeats Hamilton, for 
nomination, 225-226; 283 §79; 285 §40; 

286 §37. 

Carroll, Nicholas, 46. 281 §18, §26. 

Carroll, Thomas King, sketch, 109-113, 
(ancestry 109-110; education, 110; 
admitted to bar, 110; marriage, 111; 
Masonic order. 111; in legislature, 111; 
governor. 111; personality, 112; and 
U. S. senatorship, 112; declines seat in 
state senate, 112; naval officer at Balti- 
more, 112; death, 113). 114, 282 §58, 
284 §23, 286 §21. 

Carter (Bowie), Alice, 194, 287 §34. 

Carter, Chas. H., 194. 

Cass, Lewis, 223. 

Census frauds of 1900, 265-266. 

Centennial Exposition, 219. 

Chambers, Ezekiel F., 282 §75. 

Charter Committee of Maryland (1776), 
17. 

Charter, new, Baltimore, 259. 

Chase, Saml., 4; candidate for governor, 5; 
Wm. Paca and, 15; arms continental 
soldiers, 16; impeached, 61; 281 §1. 

Chesapeake and Ohio Canal: Super- 
sedes Potomac Co., 94, 97; original 
plans for, 97; opposed by Baltimoreans, 
102; proposal to build link to Baltimore, 
102; Governor Martin favors, 107; con- 
flict with Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, 
121-122; receives aid from state, 122, 
126; Francis Thomas president, 138; 
begins to fulfil promise, 196. 

Chew (Howard), Margaret 31, 115. 286 §22, 

287 §5. 

China, Governor Lowe named as minister 
to, 162; religious revolution, 231; Gov- 
ernor McLane, minister to, 231. 

Civil Service reform, 225. 

Civil Rights bill, 256-257. 

Civil War. Francis Thomas and, 142; 
Governor Lowe and, 158-159; 162-163; 
Maryland's divided sentiment, 171; 
Massachusetts soldiers mobbed in Bal- 
timore, 174-176; Hicks proposes truce, 
175; attitude of legislature, 176; mem- 
bers of legislature arrested, 177; meet- 
ings to prevent, 180; peace conference 
at Washington, 180; intimidation at 
Bradford's election. 180-181; conflict 
in Maryland between state and federal 
authorities, 181-182; invasion of Mary- 
land by confederate army, 183; Mary- 



INDEX 



291 



land Committee protests to president, 
233; political parties and, 188-189. 
(See also Secession.) 

Clarke, Wm. B., 160, 282 §71. 

Clay, Henry, 179-180; Governor Hamilton 
and, 223. 

Cleveland, Grover, appoints Governor 
Groome collector of customs, 212; ap- 
points Governor McLane minister to 
France, 234; elected president, 250, 271; 
appoints Governor Brown postmaster, 
250; appoints Governor Warfield sur- 
veyor of port, 271-272; views regarding 
office-holders and politics, 272. 

Clongowas Wood College, attended by 
Governor Lowe, 159. 

Coal strike at Frostburg, 252. 

Coates (Thomas), Elizabeth, 120, 287 §23. 

Cobb, Howell, 155. 

College, Bourbon, attended by Governor 
McLane, 229. 

Columbian College, attended by Governor 
Swann, 185. 

Comptroller of Maryland — office created, 
154. 

Confederacy, opposed by Gov. Francis 
Thomas, 159. (See Civil War.) 

Congress and "salary grab," 225. 

Congress, continental, protests to king, 4. 

Connolly (Stevens), Ehzabeth, 286 §18. 

Constitution, U. S. convention (1787) 
and, 54; opponents of centralization 
and, 54; development of, 75; opposition 
to, 54, 75; accepted by colonies, 24; 
adopted by Maryland, 22; opposition to 
in Maryland, 24-25; Governor Paca's 
attempt to amend, 34-35; Governor 
Plater presides at ratifying convention, 
34; State (1776), 5, 124; burdened with 
amendments, 161. — State (1851), 124; 
convention and, 161; Governor Hicks 
a delegate, 173; Governor Francis 
Thomas and, 142; creates office of comp- 
troller, 154; Gov. P. F. Thomas and, 154; 
Governor Grason, and, 135; ratified, 161; 
benefits of, 161. — State (1864), 188-189, 
provisions of, 195; election under, 195. 
State (1867), 195; provisions of, 195- 
196; Governor Groome and, 209. 

Contee (Kent), Alice Lee, 103, 287 §19. 

Couden (Stone), Miss, 40, 287 §7. 

Cox, Christopher C. Maryland's only lieu- 
tenant-governor, 189; election of, 195; 
fails to succeed Governor Swann, 190. 

Coxe, Rich. S., 145. 

Coxey's army, 253. 

Cowpens, battle of, 28-29. 

Crabill, Silas M., 283 §87. 

Cradock, Rev. Thomas, school, 58. 

Creswell, John A. J., 156, 190. 

Crothers, Alpheus, 276, 286 §46. 

Crothers, Austin Lane, sketch, 276-280; 
(political economist, 276; youth, 276- 
277; teaches school, 277; enters politics, 
277; state senator, 277; judge, 278; 
nominated for governor, 278; campaign, 
278-279; elected, 279; favors good 
roads and administrative economy, 



279-280; home life, 280). Governor 
Jackson and, 247; succeeds Governor 
Warfield, 273-274, 283 §88, 285 §49. 
286 §46. 

Crothers, Charles C, 277. 

Gulp, Ira, 263 §88. 

Cumberland, Maryland, and Baltimore 
and Ohio strike, 218-219. 

Declaration of Independence signed, 6. 

DeCourcy (Wright), Sarah, 67, 287 §12. 

DeCourcy, William, 67; homestead of, 69. 

DeCoursey (Veazey), Elizabeth, 125, 286 
§24. 

DeKalb, Baron Johann, death of, 23. 

Democratic party, 103. 

Dickinson College, attended by Gov. P. F. 
Thomas, 151. 

Digges (Lee), Mary, 13, 287 §2. 

Disfranchisement in Maryland after seces- 
sion, 189. 

District of Columbia, government for, 
203-204. 

Divorce of Gov. Francis Thomas and Sallie 
McDowell, 139-141. 

Dixon, Robert B., 239, 283 §82. 

Dorsey, Chas. Worthington, 166. 

Dorsey (Ligon), Mary Tolly 166, 287 §30. 

Dorsey (Ridgely), Priscilla, 82, 287 §15. 

Dorsey (Ridgely), Rebecca, 83. 

Dorsey (Ligon), Sallie, 166, 287 §30. 

Doughoregan Manor, 215, 216. 

Druid Hill Park, 187. 

Duel between Governor Wright and Gov- 
ernor Lloyd, 66; between Governor 
Francis Thoams and Wm. Price, 139. 

Eager (Howard), Ruth, 27, 286 §5. 

Eden, Gov. Robt., 4. 

Edmondson (Groome), Alice L., 211, 287 

§36. 
Election: Military interference with, in 

1861, 180-181, under constitution of 

1864, 183; popular for governor, 87; 

contested — White vs. Harris, 200-201; 

Wallis vs. Gwinn, 210-211; under 

Know-nothing rule, 166-170, 187-188; 

senatorial primary in Maryland, 267. 

275. 
England, Reverdy Johnson, appointed 

minister to, 201. (See also War of 

1812-16.) 
Eutaw Springs, battle of, 29. 
Eversfield, Rev., school of, 58. 

Federal party formed, 26; how kept in 
power, 86; oppose second war with Eng- 
land, 61; struggle between republican 
party, 47-49, cause of strength in Mary- 
land (1815-18), 85. 

Flying Camp joins Washington, 5; Gov. 
J. E. Howard and, 27. 

Fort McHenry, bombardment of, 79-80; 
granted to U. S. government, 84. 

Fort Putnam, 21. 

Fort Washington, 21; Governor Small- 
wood and, 22; granted to Federal Gov- 
ernment, 84. 



292 



INDEX 



Franceinterfereswith American commerce, 

60; threatened war with, 45; Governor 

McLane minister to. 234. 
Francis (Thomas) Maria, 151. 286 §28. 
Frederick, Maryland, legislature meets 

at. 176. 
Free Ballot act, 72. 
Freeholders' Convention, 58. 
"Free Silver" and W. H. Jackson, 246- 

247. 
Fremont, Gen. John C, 148. 
Frizzell, Jas. M., 283 §88. 
Frostburg coal strike, 252. 

Gaither, George R., 279, 283 §88. 

Gale, Geo., 43. 

Gary, Jas. A., 226, 283 §80. 

Gates, Gen. Horatio at Camden, 23; super- 
seded, 23; Smallwood and, 23; men- 
tioned, 24. 

Geological work, first in Maryland, 122. 

Georgetown College, attended by Gover- 
nor Pratt, 145; Gov. J. L. Carroll, 215. 

Germantown, battle of, and Gov. J. E. 
Howard, 28; and Maryland Line, 22, 
and Gov. J. H. Stone, 37. 

Gibson, Senator, Chas. H., 264. 

Gillis (Winder), Esther, 76, 286 §14. 

Gisriel, Wm.. 283 §87. 

Gist, Gen. Mordecai, 23. 

Glenn, Judge John, 200. 

"Glorious 19" electors, 127-128, 137-138, 
173. 

GoLDSBOROUGH, Charles, sketch, 86-90; 
(birth, 87; education and youth, 87; 
marriages, 87-88; in congress, 88; gov- 
ernor, 89; administration, 90). Elected 
governor. 85; defeated by Saml. Sprigg, 
93; 282 §47, §48, §49; 284 §18; 286 §16. 

Goldsborough, Chas., Sr., 87, 286 §16. 

Goldsborough, Judge Chas. F., 237; death 
of. 240. 

Goldsborough (Goldsborough), Elizabeth, 
87, 287 §16. 

Goldsborough, Judge Robert, 87. 

Goldsborough, Congressman Robert H., 
84. 

Goldsborough (Goldsborough), Sarah Yer- 
bury, 88, 287 §16. 

Goldsborough, Wm. Tilghman, 154, 282 
§70. 

Good roads favored by Governor Crothers, 
279-280, bill passed, 279-280. 

Gorman, Arthur Pue, in U. S. senate, 203, 
211, 271; opposes Governor Jackson 
for senator, 245; in conflict with Gover- 
nor Whyte, 203, 205; death of, 206. 

Governor of Maryland in early years, 10; 
term for one year, 114, disadvantages of 
short term, 114; early powers of, 36; 
first governor's message to legislature, 
38-39; method of electing changed, 124; 
Reform Act, 132; first popular election 
for, 128. Council of, abolished, 128. 
(See Acting-governor.) 

Grason, Richard, 130, 286 §25. 

Grason, William, sketch, 130-135 (a de- 
structionist, 130; birth, 130; youth, 131; 



marriage, 131; in navy, 131; in general 
assembly, 132; governor, 133; opposes 
repudiation, 133-134; criticises consti- 
tution, 134; retires, 134; in state sen- 
ate, 135; opposes abolition, 135, death, 
135). Succeeds Governor Veazey, 128; 
warns of financial dangers, 140; sup- 
ported by Gov. P. F. Thomas, 152; 
slavery and, 159; 282 §67, 284 §28, 
285 §25. 

Grant, Gen. U. S., removes Governor Brad- 
ford as surveyor, 183; unsuccessful 
efforts to reconcile Governor Bradford, 
183. 

Greene, Gen. Nathanael praises Gov. J. E. 
Howard, 29; succeeds General Gates, 23. 

Groome, James Black, sketch, 207-212; 
(democratic spirit of, 207-208; boyhood, 
208-209; in legislature, 209; Igovemor 
210-211; controversy of Wallis vs. 
Gwinn, 210-211; marriage, 211: in U. 
S. senate, 211-212; death, 212). De- 
feats Gov. P. F. Thomas for U. S. sen- 
ate, 157; elected governor, 203. 283 §78, 
285, §39, 286 §36. 

Groome, John Chas., defeated for gover- 
nor, 173, 208-209, 282 §73, 286 §36. 

Guilford (N. C), battle of, 53; Governor 
Mercer and, 53. 

Gwinn, Chas. J. M., election contested, 
210-211. 

Hagerstown and Governor Hamilton, 227. 

Hamilton, Henry, 222, 286 §38. 

Hamilton, WiUiam Thomas, sketch, 221- 
227 (political economist, 222; opposed 
by leaders, 222; birth and early sur- 
roundings, 222; education, 222-223; in 
legislature, 223; in congress, 223; con- 
gressional and senatorial career, 223- 
225; marriage, 224; governor, 226; Ha- 
gerstown and, 227; death, 227).) 201, 
202; chief characteristic, 268, 283 §80, 
285 §41, 286 §38. 

Hampden-Sidney College attended by 
Governor Ligon, 165. 

Hancock-Garfield campaign, 163. 

Handy, Samuel, 262. 

Harper, Gen. Robt. Goodloe, 110. 

Harris J. Morrison, defeats Governor 
Whyte for congress, 200; election con- 
tested, 200-201; defeated for governor, 
217, 283 §79. 

Harrison (Paca), Anne, 19, 287 §3. 

Harrison, President Benjamin appoints 
Governor Whyte to Congress of Ameri- 
can Nations, 206. 

Harvard Law School, attended by Gover- 
nor Whyte, 199-200; by Governor J. L. 
Carroll, 215. 

Hayes, President R. B., made president, 
203; Baltimore and Ohio strike and, 
218-219. 

Hayes, Thomas G., 254. 

Hayward, William, 151. 

Heberd (Smallwood), Priscilla, 20, 286 
§4. 

Henry, Danl. M., in congress, 237. 



INDEX 



293 



Henry, John, sketch, 41-45 (youth and ed- 
ucation, 42; in Continental congress, 42- 
43; U. S. senator, 43; elected governor, 
42-43; short administration, 44; features 
of governorship, 45; marriage, 45; death, 
45). Gov. Hy. Lloyd descended from, 
237; 281 §24, 284 §9, 286 §8. 

Henry, Col. John, 42; 286 §8. 

Henry (Lloyd), Kitty, 237, 286 §40. 

Henry, Patrick, 4. 

Hering, Joshua W. in state senate, 277; 
comptroller, 278. 

Hess (Hamilton), Anna Mary M., 222, 
286 §38. 

Hicks, Henry C, 172, 286 §31. 

Hicks, Thomas HoUiday, sketch, 171-177, 
(a temporizer, 171; wavers at critical 
time, 172; birth, 172; minor political 
positions, 172-173; register of wills 
and state legislator, 172; candidate for 
governor, 173; manner of election, 173; 
views on secession, 174-175; April 19 
(1861), and, 174-175; bridge-burning 
and, 174—175; proposes truce between 
north and south, 175; attitude toward 
legislature, 176-177; in U. S. senate, 
177; marriages, 177; death, 177). De- 
nounced by Governor Lowe, 163; how 
elected governor, 169-170; defeats John 
C. Groome, 208-209; 282 §73, 284 §34, 

286 §31. 

Higgins, Edwin, 283 §84. 

Hill (Ogle), Henrietta, 50, 287 §9. 

Hill murder case, 252-253. 

Hill, William N., 283 §86. 

Hodges, Mayor Jas., 245. 

Hollingsworth (Whyte), Louisa D., 206, 

287 §35. 

Helton, Hart D., 283 §81. 

Howard, Benj. Chew, 115; defeated for 
governor, 180-181; 282 §74. 

Howard, Cornelius, 286 §5. 

Howard, George, sketch, 114-118 (dis- 
inclined to be governor, 114; birth and 
early years, 115; marriage, 115; home 
life, 115; member of governor's council, 
116; governor, 116; differs from Presi- 
dent Jackson, 117; opposed to lotteries, 
117; views on slavery, 117; censures 
South Carohna, 118; death, 118) men- 
tioned, 31; refuses reelection, 121; 
suggestions in regard to Baltimore and 
Ohio and Chesapeake and Ohio, 122. 
282 §60, 284 §25, 286 §22. 

Howard. John Eager, sketch, 26-31 (early 
years, 27; joins Continental army, 27; 
military services, 28-29, hero of Cow- 
pens, 28; retort to General Morgan, 29; 
General Greene's opinion of, 29; Conti- 
nental congress, 29; governor, 30; state 
senator, 30; U. S. senator, 30; declines 
portfolio of war, 30; distinguished sons, 
31; in war of 1812-15, 31; candidate for 
vice-president, 31; death, 31) son be- 
comes governor, 115; 281 §13, §14, §15, 
§16, §34, §35; 282, §40; 284 §5; 286 §5, 

Hurst, John E., 258, 283 §85. 



Internal improvement, 94; Potomac Com- 
pany and Chesapeake and Ohio canal, 
96-97; beginning of, 83-84; era of, 10; 
Governor Kent and, 106; reckless in- 
vestment in, 133; Gov. Jas. Thomas 
and, 120; Maryland's Uberal contribu- 
tion to, 126. 

Interest payments resumed in Maryland, 
154. 

Irish rebellion, 199. 

Japan, Governor McLane minister to, 231. 

Jackson, President Andrew and "spoils" 
system, 106-107, 221; appoints Louis 
McLane secretary of treasury, 229. 

Jackson, Elihu Emory, sketch, 242-247, 
(birth, 243; business career, 243-244, 
246; in legislature, 244; nominated for 
governor, 245; administration, 245-246; 
marriage, 247; death, 247). Nomi- 
nated, 205, 251; succeeds Hy. Lloyd, 
239; succeeded by Frank Brown, 215; 
283 §83, 285 §44, 286 §41. 

Jackson, E. E. and Company, 244. 

Jackson, Hugh, 243. 286 §41. 

Jackson, \Vm. H., 246, 247. 

Jefferson College attended by Governor 
Hamilton, 222. 

Jefferson, "Thos. elected president, 60; 
disfavors third term, 68; Governor 
Mercer student of, 53. 

Jenifer, Danl., 37. 

Jenifer, Danl. of St. John, 15, 281 §7, §10. 

Jenifer (Stone), Elizabeth, 37; 286 §7. 

Jenness (Hamilton), Clara, 224, 287 §38. 

Jenness, Rich., 224. 

Jennings (Johnson), Ann, 6, 287 §1. 

Jews of Maryland, effort to get franchises, 
89; enfranchised, 95, 97-98. 

Johnson, President Andrew, impeach- 
ment of, 61; opposed by Gov. Francis 
Thomas, 142; Maryland vacant sena- 
torship and, 156; votes of Maryland 
senators for, 156; conflict with congress, 
201-202; championed by Gov. Whyte, 
201-202; congress and Johnson's annual 
message, 201-202. 

Johnson, Reverdy, appointed attorney- 
general of U. S., 148; resigns from U. S. 
senate, 201; appointed minister to Eng- 
land, 201; succeeded by Governor 
Whyte, 201. 

Johnson, Thomas, sketch, 1-8 (ancestry 
and early life, 3; President Adam's 
opinion of, 3; member of continental 
congress, 4, 5, 6, 7; nominates George 
Washington commander-in-cliief of 
army, 4; commands "Fl>-ing Camp," 5, 
election and inauguration, 5; marriage- 
6; votes for Declaration of Independ; 
ence, 6; twice reelected governor, 6; 
chief judge of general court, 7; associate 
judge supreme court, 7; declines port- 
folio of state under Washington, 7; 
death, 8). Advocates declaration of 
independence, 17; a jurist, 20; 281 §1, 
2§, §3, §13, §34; 284 §1; 286 §1. 

Johnson, Thomas, Sr., 3; 286 §1. 



294 



INDEX 



Johnson, Wm. Cost, 138, 282 §68. 
Jones, Joshua, 282 §63 
Jones, Levin T., 283 §86. 
Juarez, Benito, recognized by U. S. minis- 
ter to Mexico, 232. 
Judge-retiring bill of, 1908, 240. 

Kell (Bradford), Elizabeth, 180, 287 §32. 

Kell, Judge Thomas, 180. 

Kent (Pratt), Adelaide, 145, 287 §27. 

Kent, Danl., 99, 286 §19. 

Kent, Capt. Jas., "minute men," 66. 

Kent, Joseph, sketch. 99-103 (youth, 99- 
100; practices medicine, 100; member 
of congress, 100-101; elected governor, 
101; administration 101-102; petitions 
legislature to charter Baltimore and 
Ohio Railroad, 102; elected to U. S. 
senate, 103; marriage, 103; death, 103.) 
Internal improvement and, 106; daugh- 
ter marries Governor Pratt, 145; 282 §54, 
§55, §56, 284 §21; 286 §19. 

Kerr (Thomas), Sarah Maria, 157, 287 §28. 

King (Carroll), Elizabeth Barnes, 109, 110, 
287 §21. 

King, Col. Thomas, 109. 

Know-nothing party in Maryland, 166- 
170; methods of winning elections 173- 
187; supports Thos. Swann for mayor, 
187; conflict with Governor Ligon, 187; 
supremacy in Baltimore, 200; strength 
of in Maryland, 224. 

Korea, Governor McLane minister to, 231. 

Kossuth, Gen. Louis visits Maryland, 162. 

Lafayette, Marquis de, aided by Governor 
Lee, 11; joined by Governor Mercer; 53; 
mentioned, 69; returns to America, 95; 
anecdote concerning visit to Annapolis, 
95. 

Lansdale (Sprigg), Violette, 93, 287 §17. 

Lansdale, Thos. Lancaster, 93. 

Lawson, Gen. Robert, 53. 

Lee, Gen. Chas., dismissed from army, 52- 
53. 

Lee (Plater), Hannah, 35, 287 §6. 

Lee, Mary (Digges), wife of Gov. T. S. Lee, 
13; renders aid to Continental army, 13, 
287 §2. 

Lee, Mary Digges, mother of Gov. J. L. 
Carroll, 215, 286 §37. 

Lee, Rich., 10. 

Lee, Rich Hy., 433. 

Lee, Thos., 10, 286 §2. 

Lee, Thomas Sim, sketch, 9-13 (election as 
governor, 9; ancestry and early years 
10; first public service, 10; cooperate 
with Washington and Lafayette, 11-12; 
commended by legislature, 12; in Con- 
tinental congress, 12; second adminis- 
tration, 12; "Whiskey insurrection" 
and, 12; reorganizes militia, 12; estab- 
lishes winter home in Georgetown, 13; 
declines seat in U. S. senate, 13; refuses 
third administration as governor, 13; 
marriage, 13; death, 13). Mentioned, 
6, 20. 38, 45, 46, Gov. J. L. Carroll 



descended from, 215; 281 §4, §5, §6, §18, 
§19, §20, §25; 284 §2, §7; 286 §2. 

Legislature in extra session in War of 
1812-15, 78-79; refuses to receive Gov- 
ernor's message, 170; meets in Fred- 
erick, 176; declaration concerning seces- 
sion, 176; members arrested, 177; peti- 
tioned to restore franchises to Maryland 
democrats, 189; extra session of 1901, 
265-266. 

Levering, Joshua, 283 §85. 

Lexington, battle of, 21. 

Lieutenant-governor under constitution 
of 1864, 189, 195; Maryland's only lieu- 
tenant governor, 189. 

Ligon, Thos. D., 165, 286 §30. 

Ligon, Thomas Wat kins, sketch, 165-170 
(youth, 165; education, 165-166; re- 
moval to Maryland, 166; marriages, 166; 
member of legislature and of congress, 
166; election as governor, 167; conflict 
with know-nothing party, 167-170; 
legislature refuses to receive message, 
170; later years and death, 170.) Fear- 
lessness of, 184; conflict with know- 
nothing party in Baltimore, 187-188; 
282 §72; 284 §33; 286 §30. 

Lincoln, President Abraham, receives one 
vote in (^ueen Anne's, 135; effect of 
election in Maryland, 135; attends 
Governor Hicks' funeral, 177. 

Livingston, Robert, 38. 

Lloyd, Benj. Chew, 15. 

Lloyd, Danl., 236, 286 §40. 

Lloyd, Edward I., immigrant, 236-237. 

Lloyd, Col. Edward IV, candidate for 
governor, 9; 281 §4, 286 §13. 

Lloyd, Edward V., sketch. 70-74 (birth. 
70; early life, 71; elected to legislature 
at age of twenty-one, 71; sent to con- 
gress, 72; elected governor, 72; admin- 
istration, 73; U. S. senator, 73; presi- 
dent state senate, 73 ; death, 73; mar- 
riage, 74; democratic spirit, 74). Duel 
with Governor Wright, 66; mentioned, 
236; Governor Lowndes descended from, 
255; 282 §37, §38, §39; 284 §14; 286 §13. 

Lloyd, Edward VI, 282 §62. 

Lloyd family in Maryland, 71, 241. 

Lloyd, Henry sketch, 235-241 (succeeds 
Governor McLane, 236) birth and edu- 
cation, 236-237; admitted to bar, 237; 
in state senate, 237-238; president sen- 
ate, 238; acting-governor, 238; gover- 
nor, 239; administration, 239; judge. 
240; Mason, 240; marriage, 240; home 
life, 241.) Becomes acting-governor, 
234; 283 §82; 285 §43; 286 §40. 

Lloyd (Paca), Mary, 15; 287 §3. 

Long Island, battle of, 21; Governor Stone 
and, 37. 

Lotteries opposed by Gov. Geo. Howard. 
117. 

Lowe. Lt. Bradley S. A., graduate of West 
Point, 159, 286 §29. 

LowE,|Enoch Louis, sketch. 158-164 (named 
in "Maryland, My Maryland," 158; Con- 
federacy and. 159; birth, 159; elected 



INDEX 



295 



governor, 160; defends his youth, 160; 
marriage, 160; administration, 160-161; 
favors low taxes, 161; entertains Kos- 
suth, 162; declines post of minister to 
China, 162; wants Maryland to secede, 
162-163; denounces Governor Hicks, 
163; Civil War and, 163; moves to 
Brooklyn, 163; death, 164.) Advo- 
cates secession, 171; April 19 (1861) and, 
174, 175-176. 282 §71; 284 §32; 286 
§29. 

Lowndes (Lowndes), Elizabeth, 256, 257— 
258, 287 §43. 

Lowndes, Lloyd, father of Governor 
Lowndes, 255, 256, 286 §43. 

Lowndes, Lloyd, sketch, 255-260 (birth, 
255; college career, 256; practices law, 
256; elected to congress, 256; opposes 
Civil Rights bill, 256-257; defeated for 
congress, 257; business interests, 258; 
elected governor, 258; administration, 
258-259; declines to use office for elec- 
tion to U. S. senate, 259; defeated for 
governor, 259; death, 260). Distinc- 
tion among governors, 184; defeated by 
Gov. J. W. Smith, 265; 283 §85, §86; 
285 §46; 286 §43. 

Maccubbin (Martin), Mary Clare, 105, 
287 §20. 

Mackall, Gen. Jas. John, 58. 

Mackall (Bowie), Priscilla, 58, 287 §11. 

Magill (Thomas), Nellie, 136-137, 286 §26. 

Magruder (Pratt), Eleanor, 286 §27. 

Mahool, J. Barry, 254. 

Malster, William T., 206. 

Marriott, W. H., 282 §62. 

Martin, Daniel, sketch, 104-108 (early 
years, 105; marriage, 105; initial appear- 
ance in politics, 105; twice elected gov- 
ernor, 106; opposed to Jackson's "spoils" 
system, 106-107; death, 108); defeated 
by Gov. T. K. Carroll, 111; misfortune 
because of short term, 114; Gov. Geo. 
Howard and, 116; 282 §57 §58, §59; 
284 22§, §24; 286 §20. 

Martin, Luther, opposes Constitution of 
U. S., 25, 75; withdraws from conven- 
tion, 54. 

Martin, Nicholas, 105, 286 §20. 

Maryland. Earliest independent gov- 
ernment, 2; legislature warns Governor 
Eden, 4; delegates in congress permitted 
to vote for Declaration of Independ- 
ence, 4; opposition to articles of con- 
federation, 7; opposition to Declaration 
of Independence, 16; U. S. constitution 
ratified, 25; aid to Continental army 
acknowledged by Washington, 12; 
legislature expresses confidence in 
Washington, 29; grants District of 
Columbia to government, 30; lends 
money for federal buildings, 39,; neg- 
lectea by federal government in 
War of 1812-15, 76, 78-79; repeals 
property qualifications for voters, 55- 
56, 72; charters Baltimore and Ohio 
Railroad, 102; gives elective franchise 



to Jews, 95; 97-98; divided into three 
gubernatorial districts, 132-133; de- 
faults interest payments, 141, 147; 
repudiation and, 140-141; causes of 
financial embarrassment, 126; re- 
sumes interest payments, 154; agita- 
tion for proportionate representation 
in general assembly, 126-127; 137-138, 
142; readjustment of apportionment, 
137; attitude of legislature regarding 
secession, 176; committee protests 
against action of federal troops, 233. 
(See also Constitution and Legislature.) 

Maryland Jockey Club, 197. 

Maryland Line at Germantown, 22; com- 
mended by congress, 23. 

"Maryland, My Maryland" quoted, 158, 
reference to Governor Lowe, 158. 

Maryland Society Sons of American Revo- 
lution erects monument to Governor 
Smallwood, 25. 

Maryland State Agricultural and Mechan- 
ical Society, 250. 

Maryland-Virginia boundary dispute, 203. 

Mason, George, 54. 

Mason, John Thomson, 223. 

Masonic Order, Governor Winder and, 
80; Gov. Hy. Lloyd and, 240. 

Massachusetts soldiers mobbed in Balti- 
more, 174-176. 

May (Thomas) Clintonia, 157, 287 §28. 

May (Stevens), Eliza, 96, 287 §18. 

McBride (Jackson), Sally, 286 §411. 

McDonald, Mary. (See Mrs. Raleigh 
Thomas.) 

McDowell, Gov. James, of Virginia, 139. 

McDowell (Thomas), Sallie marriage, to 
Gov. Francis Thomas, 139; separation 
from, 139-140; divorce from, 140; sec- 
ond marriage, 141; Gov. Thomas pam- 
phlet concerning, 141, 287 §26. 

McKinley, President Wm. and Jas. A. 
Gary, 226. 

McLane, Louis, 228; public service in 
Delaware, 228; connection with Bal- 
timore and Ohio Railroad, 228; U. S. 
minister to England, 229; secretary of 
treasury, 229; resigns from Baltimore 
and Ohio, 186, 286 §39. 

McLane, Robert Milligan, sfcete/t, 228-234; 
(parentage, 228-229; education, 229; 
military career, 229-230; marriage, 229; 
legislative career, 230; member of con- 
gress, 230-231, 233-234; minister to 
China, Japan, etc., 231; minister to 
Mexico, 232; Civil War and, 233; min- 
ister to France, 234; death of, 234). 
Gov. P. F. Thomas and, 157; resigns 
as governor, 235, 238; appointed min- 
ister to France, 235-236; desire for 
foreign service, 236; fond of debate, 
236; defeated for U.S. senate, 211; 283 
§81; 285 §42; 286 §39. 

McNally, R. M., 199. 

Mercer, John Francis, sketch, 51-56 
(youth, 52; in Continental army, 52; 
aide to Gen. Chas. Lee, 52; resigns, 53; 
re-commissioned, 53; in southern cam- 



296 



INDEX 



paign, 53; Jefferson and, 53; in Virginia 
legislature, 53; marriage and removal 
to Maryland, 53-54; delegate to con- 
stitutional convention, 54; opposed U. 
S. constitution, 54; defeated for con- 
gress, 54; member of legislature and 
congress, 55; elected governor, 55; ad- 
ministration, 54-55, opposes War of 
1812-15, 56; death, 56). Administra- 
tion, 59; in Revolution, 184; first repub- 
lican governor, 184; 281 §29, §30; 284 
§11; 286 §10. 

Mercer, Robert, 52, 286 §10. 

Mercer, Robert, Sr., 52. 

Merrick, Wm. M., 225. 

Mexico, war with, 147; Gov. Oden Bowie 
and, 193; termination of friendly rela- 
tions with U. S., 232; President Juarez 
and U. S., 232. 

Militia of Maryland reorganized, 123. 

Milligan (McLane), Catherine, 228, 286 
§39. 

Mitchell, Geo. E., 282 §57. 

Monmouth, battle of, and Chas. Lee, 53; 
Governor Mercer and, 53. 

Moore (Lowndes), Marie, 256, 286 §43. 

Morgan, Gen. Danl. at Cowpens, 28; com- 
mends Gov. J. E. Howard, 29. 

Morris, Robt. and Governor Lee, 11. 

Murray, Jas., 281 §29, §30. 

Murray (Lloyd), Sally Scott, 74, 287 §13. 

National republicans, 103. 

Negro, first vote of in Maryland, 202; 
effort to disfranchise in Maryland, 274. 

Nelson, John, attorney-general, 200; de- 
feated for congress, 200. 

"New Judge" movement, 205. 

Nicodemus (Warfield), Emma, 272, 287 
§45. 

Nicodemus, J. Courtney, 272. 

North Point, battle of, 31, 78-80. 

Northern Central Railway, 122. 

Oden (Bowie), Mary Eliza, 193, 286 §34. 

Ogle, Benjamin, sA;e<c/i, 46-50 (parentage, 
4(5-47; education, 47; early public ser- 
vice, 47; governor. 47; administration, 
47-49; death of Washington and, 28; 
home life and death, 49-50). 281 §18, 
§26, §27, §28; 284 §10; 286 §9. 

Ogle, Saml., proprietary governor, 46-47, 
286 §9. 

"Old Line" democrats, 204. 

Oldham (Martin), Hannah, 105, 286 §20. 

Paca, Elizabeth, 286 §3. 

Paca, John, 15, 286 §23. 

Paca, William, sketch, 14-19 (elected gov- 
ernor, 15; birth and youth, 15; opposes 
stamp act, 15; in Continental congress, 
16; arms volunteer corps, 16; votes for 
Declaration of Independence, 17; chief 
judge of general court, 17; administra- 
tion, 18; labors for Revolutionary sol- 
diers, 18; judge of U. S. court of Mary- 
land, 19 Washington College and, 19; 
marriages, 19; personal appearance, 19). 
Mentioned, 4, 21; candidate for gover- 



nor, 5; a jurist, 20; attempt to amend 
U. S. constitution, 34-35; 281 §1, §7, §8, 
§9, 284 §3; 286 §3. 

Page (Swann), Jane Byrd, 185, 286 §33. 

Paoli, battle of, 66. 

Pardons, how granted, in Maryland, 274- 
275; Governor Warfield and, 275. 

Paris treaty of peace, 18. 

Park Tax in Baltimore, 186. 

Peabody, Geo., 199. 

Pearce, James Alfred elected to congress, 
132, 153; defeated by Gov. C. F. Thomas 
152-153; succeeded by Governor Hicks, 
177. 

Pennsylvania and Maryland slaves, 147- 
148. 

Pennsylvania Railway and Baltimore and 
Pittsburg Railroad, 194. 

Peru, Gov. Francis Thomas, minister to, 
143. 

Phelps (Carroll), Anita, 215-216; death, 
of, 216; 287 §37. 

Phelps, Royal, 215-216. 

Pierce, President Franklin, election of, 
154; appoints Gov. P. F. Thomas, col- 
lector, 155; names Governor Lowe 
minister to China, 162; appoints Gov- 
ernor McLane minister to Japan and 
China, 231; mentioned, 224. 

Pinkney, Campbell White, 199. 

Pinkney (White), Isabella, 199, 286 §35. 

Pinkney, Wm., service to Maryland, 199; 
resigns from congress, 55. 

Plater, Col. George, father of Governor 
Plater, 33; member of Baltimore's 
council of state, 33, 286 §6. 

Plater, George, sketch,l32~35 (birth, 33; 
early public service, 33; in legislature, 
34; presides at Maryland convention to 
ratify U. S. constitution, 34; presiden- 
tial elector, 35; elected governor, 35; 
administration, 35; married life, 35; 
death, 35). Candidate for governor, 
5; succeeded by Gov. T. S. Lee, 12; 
deathof,235,281§l,§17;284§6; 286 §6. 

Poe amendment, 274. 

Police commissioners of Baltimore and 
Governor Swann, 189-190; removal of, 
189-190; conflict with successors, 190. 

Polk (Lowe), Esther Winder, 160, 287 §29. 

Polk, Col. Jas., 160. 

Polk, Pres. Jas. K., and Governor McLane, 
230. 

Porter (Crothers), Margaret Aurelia, 176, 
286 §46. 

Potomac Company, legislative report upon, 
96-97; superseded by Chesapeake and 
Ohio Canal Company, 94-97. 

Potts, Rich., 30. 

Pratt, Thomas. 286 §27. 

Pratt, Thomas George, sketch, 144-149 
(birth, 144; marriage, 145; legislative 
career, 145-146; attitude concerning 
repudiation, 146; elected governor, 146; 
defeats repudiation, 146-147; conflict 
with Pennsylvania over slave property, 
147-148; becomes enemy of abolition, 
146; United States senator, 148; ar- 



INDEX 



297 



rested at outbreak of Civil War, 149; 
death, 149). Appoints Governor Brad- 
ford clerk of Baltimore County, 180; 
Repudiation and, 141; sustained by 
Governor Hamilton, 223; and Governor 
McLane, 230; sympathizes with south, 
159; son of in Confederate army, 156; 
chief characteristic, 268. 282 §69, 284 
§30, 286, §27. 

Preston, Horatio, 254. 

Preston (Brown), Mary Ridgely, 254, 287 
§42. 

Price, Wm., duel with Gov. Francis 
Thomas, 139. 

Primary nominations in Maryland, 275; 
for United States senator, 266, 267, 
275; Governor Warfield and, 275. 

Princeton, battle of and Governor Small- 
wood, 22; Governor Stone and, 37. 

Princeton College attended by Governor 
Pratt, 145; by Governor Henry, 42. 

Property qualifications for officeholders 
in Maryland, 51; war against, 51-52. 

Pulaski, Count Casinni in Baltimore, 23; 
conflict between Governor Smallwood 
and, 23. 



Railroad combinations opposed by Gov- 
ernor Jackson, 245. 

Raleigh (Hicks), Leah, 287 §31. 

Randall, Jas. R., 158. 

Randolph, Edmund, 7. 

Rayner, Isidor, elected United States 
senator, 266. 

Reese, John T., nominated, 132. 

Reform Act, 124; Governor Veazey and, 
124; makes gubernatorial election pop- 
ular, 132. 

Reform League election law, 259. 

Republican-democratic party splits, 103. 

Republicans favor War of 1812-15, 61; 
Baltimore riot and, 62. 

Repudiation in Maryland and Gov. Fran- 
cis Thomas, 140-141; Governor Pratt 
and, 146; cause of repudiation agita- 
tion, 133, 146; reason of defeat, 146- 
147. 

Revolt of 1836. (See "Glorious 19. ") 

Richardson, Geo. S. and Brother, 262- 
263. 

Richardson (Smith), Mary Francis, 262, 
287 §44. 

Rider (Henry) Dorothy, 42, 286 §8. 

Rider (Jackson), Nannie, 247, 287 §41. 

Rider, Wm. H., 247. 

Ridgely, Acsah, 82, 286 §15. 

Ridgely, Charles Caman, sketch, 81-85 
(birth and parentage, 82; changes name, 
82-83; marriage, 82; early political 
activity, 82; nominated for governor 
83; election, 83; internal improvement 
and, 84; administration, 84—85; life 
at Hampton, 85; death, 85). Defeats 
Gov. Robt. Bowie, 63; favors Baltimore 
and Ohio Railroad, 102; daughter mar- 
ries Gov. George Howard, 115; 282 §44, 
$45, §46; 284 §17; 286 §15. 



Ridgely, Captain Chas., uncle of Gover- 
nor Ridgely, 82-83. 

Ridgely, David, 254, 

Ridgely (Brown), Mary. (See Mrs. Mary 
Preston. ) 

Ridgely (Howard), Prudence Gough, 115, 
287 §22. 

Ringgold (Wright), Miss, 287 §12. 

Riots. (See Baltimore. ) 

Ritchie, John, 256. 

Roads. (See Internal improvements.) 

Robins, Jas. B., 282 §51. 

Rousby (Plater), EUzabeth, 35, 287 §6. 

Roy (Mercer), Ann, 72, 286 §10. 

Rugemer, John A., 283 §86. 

Rutledge, Judge John, 7. 

Salisbury, fire, 247. 

"Salary Grab" defeated, 225. 

St. John's College attended by Governor 
Martin, 105; Governor Grason, 131; 
Gov. Francis Thomas, 137. 

St. Mary's attended by Governor Brad- 
ford, 179: Gov. Oden Bowie, 193; Gov. 
J. L. Carroll, 215; Governor McLane, 
229. 

Schenck, Major-general, R. C, 182. 

Secession, Governor Lowe and, 159, 171; 
Governor Hicks and, 172, 174-175; 
Maryland legislature and, 176; Gover- 
nor Bradford and, 181 ; Governor Swann 
and, 188; Governor McLane and, 233. 
(See Civil War.) 

Second War with England. (See War of 
1812-15.) 

Sectional antagonism in Maryland, 41, 43, 
44. 

Sedgewick (Johnson), Dorcas, 3, 286 §1. 

Semmes, Benedict, 282 §56. 

Senate, U. S. votes against seating Gov. 
P. F. Thomas, 156. 

Senate chamber at Annapolis restored, 
275. 

Senator, first from Maryland to congress, 
43. 

Senatorial electoral college abolished, 128; 
first primary nomination in Maryland, 
206. 

Sewell (Hicks), Mary, 172; 286 §31. 

Sherlock (Swann), Elizabeth, 185-186, 
287 §33. 

Shutt, A. P.. 188. 

Sim (Lee), Christiana, 10, 286 §2. 

Slavery: difficulty to enforce laws, 147; 
escaped slaves aided by Pennsylvania, 
147-148; Gov. T. K. Carroll and, 112; 
Gov. Geo. Howard and, 117; Governor 
Grason and, 159; Governor Bradford 
and, 182. 

Sloss (Winder), Mary, 80. 287 §14. 

Smallwood, Bayne, 20, 286 §4. 

Smallwood, William, sketch, 20-25 (mil- 
itary fame, 20; parentage, 20; early 
years and education, 21; in French and 
Indian wars, 21; under Washington, 21; 
characteristics, 21-22; services in 1776- 
77, 22; disputes with fellow-officers, 23; 
major-general, 23; displeases Washing- 



298 



INDEX 



ton, 24; elected governor, 24; adminis- 
tration, 24-25; death, 25; monument, 
25.) Mentioned, 27, 30; military can- 
didate, 44; Governor "Winder and, 77; 
281 §10, §11, §12; 284 §4; 286 §4. 

Smith, Charlotte Whittington, 262. 

Smith, John E., 283 §78. 

Smith, John Walter, father of Governor 
Smith, 262, 286 §44. 

Smith, John Walter, sketch, 261-267 (bus- 
iness success, 261; early years, 262; 
marriage, 263; first candidacy, 264; in 
legislature, 264, defeated for United 
States senate, 264; elected to congress, 
264-265; governor, 265; administra- 
tion, 265-266; elected United States sen- 
ator, 267). Defeats Governor Lowndes, 
259; defeats Governor Warfield for 
nomination, 273; in state senate, 277— 
278; 283 §86, 285 §47, 286 §44. 

South Carolina and nullification, 118. 

Spanish-American War, 259. 

"Spoils" system, President Jackson and, 
106, 221. 

Sprigg, Joseph, 91, 286 §17. 

Sprigg (Bowie), Margaret, 58, 286 §11. 

Sprigg, Osborn, 92. 

Sprigg, Samuel, sketch, 91-94 (accomplish- 
ments of, 91; birth and youth, 91-92; 
qualifications for leadership, 92-93; 
home life, 93; governor, 93; reelected, 93; 
Potomac Company and Chesapeake 
and Ohio Canal Company, 94; death, 
94). Mentioned, 96.; 282 §48,§ 49, §50; 
284 §19; 286 §17. 

Sprigg (Mercer), Sophia, 53; 286 §10. 

Stapleforte (Lloyd), Mary Elizabeth, 240, 
287 §40. 

Stapleforte, Virginia A., 240. 

Stapleforte, Wm. T., 240. 

State government in Maryland during 
Civil War, 178-179. 

State rights. Governor Veazey and, 129. 

State senators, first election by popular 
vote, 128; how elected prior to 1838, 
126-127. 

Steele, John Nevitt, 133, 282 §67. 

Steuben, Baron von Frederich and Gover- 
nor Smallwood, 24. 

Stevens, John, 95, 286 §18. 

Stevens, Samuel, Jr., sketch, 95-98 (birth, 
95;| education, 96; marriage, 96; elected 
governor, 96; Potomac Company and 
Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company 
96-97; enfranchisement of Jews, 97 
death, 98). 282 §51, §52, §53; 284 §20 
286 §18. 

Stevenson, Dr. Henry, 111. 

Stevenson (Carroll), Julianna, 111; 287 
§21. 

Stilley (Ogle), Rebecca, 50, 287 §9. 

Stone, David, 37, 286 §7. 

Stone. John Hoskins, sketch, 3&-40 (birth, 
36; education, 37; early public career, 
37; military services, 37; wounded at 
Germantown, 37; retirement, 38; gov- 
ernor's council, 38; elected governor, 38; 
admimstration, 38-40; Washington and. 



39-40; marriage, 40; death, 40). 281 
§21, §22, §23; 284 §8; 286 §7. 

Stone, Wm., appointed governor of Mary- 
land, 37. 

Stonyhurst College attended by Governor 
Lowe, 159. 

Strike of Baltimore and Ohio employees, 
213-214; 217-219; Frostburg strike, 
252. 

Sulivane (Grason), Susan Orrick, 131, 
287 §25. 

Susquehanna Railway, 122. 

Swann, James, 283 §86. 

Swann, Thos., father of Governor Swann, 
185, 286 §33. 

Swann, Thomas, sketch, 184-191 (accom- 
plishments of, 184-185; birth and early 
training, 185; first official position, 185; 
marriage and home life, 185-186; presi- 
dent of Baltimore and Ohio, 186; mayor 
of Baltimore, 186-188; connection with 
know-nothing party, 187-188; seces- 
sion and, 188; elected governor, 189; 
restores vote to democrats, 189; con- 
flict with Baltimore police commis- 
sioners, 189-190; elected United States 
senator, 190; declined senatorship, 190; 
elected to congress, 190-191; second 
marriage, 191; death, 191). United 
States senatorship and, 156; Governor 
Ligon and, 168-169; appoints Governor 
Whyte to United States senate, 201; 
defeated by Governor Hamilton, 225, 
282 §75; 285 §36, 286 §33. 

Tarleton, Major Banastre.at Cowpens,28. 

Tasker, Benj., 255; colonial governor, 47. 

Tasker (Ogle), Ann, 286 §9. 

Tax convention. Governor Brown's, 253- 
254 

Tayloe (Lloyd), Elizabeth, 286 §13. 

Taylor, President Zachary, 233. 

Thomas, Francis, father of Gov. Francis 
Thomas, 136, 286 §26. 

Thomas, Francis, sketch, 136—143 (leader 
of revolting senatorial electors, 136, 138; 
birth and education, 136-137; in legis- 
lature, 137; congressional career, 137- 
138, 142; elected governor, 138-139; 
unhappy marriage and separation, 139- 
140; prints pamphlet attacking wife, 
141; administration, 140-141; constitu- 
tion of 1851 and, 142; constitution of 
1864 and, 143; minister to Peru, 143; 
accidental death, 143). Revolt of 
"Glorious 19," 127-128; repudiation 
and, 146; opposes Confederacy, 159; 
raises union regiment, 171; defeated for 
congress, 224, 282 §68, 284 §29, 286 §26. 

Thomas, James, sfce/c/i, 119-123 (ancestry, 
119; education, 120; marriage, 120; 
War of 1812-15 and, 120; in politics, 
120; elected governor, 121; administra- 
tion, 121; ends war between Baltimore 
and Ohio and Chesapeake and Ohio, 
121-122; Bank of Maryland failure and. 
122-123; death, 123). 282 §61, §62, §63; 
284 §26; 286 §23. 



INDEX 



299 



Thomab, Philip Francis, sketch, 150-157 
(youth, 151; takes up democratic stand- 
ard, 151-152; defeated for office, 152; 
elected to legislature, 152; elected to 
congress, 152-153; congressional record, 
153; declines renomination, 153; elected 
governor, 154; administration, 154; 
state comptroller, 154; member of Presi- 
dent Buchanan's cabinet, 155; seces- 
sion and, 15&-157; elected United States 
senator, 156; not admitted to senate, 
156; returned to congress, 156-157; 
marriage, 157; death, 157). Defeated 
for United States senate, 211; sympathy 
with south, 159; against reducing taxes, 
161; 282 §70, 284 §31, 286 §28. 

Thomas (Whyte), Mrs. Raleigh, 205-206, 
287 §35. 

Thomas, Dr. Tristram, 151, 286 §28. 

Thomas, William, 119, 286 §23. 

Thompson (Hicks), Anna, 177, 287 §31. 

Thompson (Swann), Mrs. John R., 191, 
287 §33. 

Thompson (Carroll), Mary Carter, 219, 
287 §37. 

Tilghman (Goldsborough), Anna Maria, 
87, 286 §16. 

Tilghman, Frisby, 282 §47. 

Tilghman, Matthew, 4; candidate for gov- 
ernor, 5; 281 §1. 

Tidmarsh (Wright), Mary, 286 §12. 

Tilden, Saml. J., loses presidency, 203. 

Tome, Jacob, 202, 282 §77. 

Trenton, battle of, 22. 

Trippe (Goldsborough), Mary E., 87. 

Tuberculosis, campaign against, 266. 

Tyler, Wm.. 282 §54. 

Union party, in Maryland, 188-189; be- 
comes radical, 189. 

United States census frauds in Maryland, 
265. 

United States military academy attended 
by Governor McLane, 229. 

University of Maryland and Governor 
Crothers, 277. 

University of Pennsylvania and Governor 
Lowndes, 256; Gov. T. K. Carroll, 110; 
Governor Paca, 15; Governor Golds- 
borough, 87. 

University of Virginia and Governor 
Ligon, 166; Governor Swann, 185. 

Urquhart, David, 229. 

Urquhart (McLane), Georgine, 229, 
287 §39. 

Utah, Gov. P. F. Thomas offered gover- 
norship of, 155. 

Valiant, Thos., 190. 

Vannort, Wm. J., 251, 283 §84. 

Veazey, Edward, colonial high sheriff, 

125, 286 §24. 
Veazey, John, 125. 

Veazey (Veazey), Mary, 129, 287 §24. 
Veazey, Parker, 250. 
Veazey, Thomas Ward, sketch, 124-129 

(ancestry, 125; elected to house of dele- 



gates, 125; in War of 1812-15, 125; 
elected governor, 126; favors internal 
improvements, 126; revolt of senatorial 
electors and, 125; defeats revolters, 
127-128; reform act and, 128; reelected 
governor, 126; home life, 128-129). 
Reform act and, 126; last whig gover- 
nor, 123; 282 §64, §65, §66, 284 §27, 
286 §24. 

Vickers, Geo., 156. 

Vincendiere (Lowe), Adelaide, 159, 286 
§29. 

Virginia legislature entertains Governor 
Lowe, 162; four Maryland governors 
from, 184; dispute with Maryland over 
oyster beds, 196; boundary dispute 
with Maryland, 203. 

Von Home, Cornelia (Lansdale), 73. 

Wallace (Kent), Eleanor Lee, 103, 287 
§19. 

Wallace (Veazey), Mary, 129, 287 §24. 

Wallis, S. Teackle, contests Gwinn's elec- 
tion, 210-211. 

Walsh, Wm., 257. 

War of 1812-15, 78-80; petition against, 
56; misconception concerning, 75; causes 
of, 60; opposed by federalists, 61; fav- 
ored by republicans, 61; preparation for, 
68; effect of abroad, 81; Maryland and 
debt of, 84; Gov. James Thomas and, 
120; Governor Veazey and, 125; Gover- 
nor Bowie and, 61-62. 

Ward, Josephine, 191. 

Warfield, Albert G., 269, 286 §45. 

Warfield, Edwin, sketch, 268-275 (ances- 
try, 268-269; education and early years, 
269-270; school teacher, 269-270; reg- 
ister of wills, 270-271; state senator, 
271-272; banker and publisher, 271; 
surveyor of port of Baltimore, 271- 
272; marriage, 273; Fidelity and Deposit 
Company and, 272-273; elected gover- 
nor, 273; opposes Poe amendment, 274; 
administration, 273-275; candidate for 
United States senate, 275). Candidate 
for president of state senate, 238; re- 
tires in favor of Gov. Hy. Lloyd, 238; 
appoints Governor Whyte to United 
States senate, 206; appoints Governor 
Crothers judge, 278; succeeds Governor 
Jackson, 244; president of state senate, 
244; 283 §87, 285 §48, 286 §45. 

Washington City, Maryland grants land 
for, 30; occupied by British, 31; 79; 
locating national capital, 35; Maryland 
lends funds for buildings, 39. 

Washington College attended by Gover- 
nor Veazey, 125; Governor Wright, 66; 
Governor Lowndes, 256. 

Washington, George, nominated as com- 
mander-in-chief by Governor Johnson, 
4; offers Governor Johnson judgeship, 7; 
invites Governor Johnson to become 
secretary of state, 7; appeals to Gover- 
nor Lee for assistance, 11; letters to 
Governor Lee, 11, 12; praises Small- 
wood's troops, 22; Maryland votes for 



300 



INDEX 



30; invites Gov. J. E. Howard to accept 
portfolio of war, 30; why elected presi- 
dent, 20; orders Smallwood to cover re- 
treat, 22; displeased with Smallwood, 
24; appeals to Maryland for aid in 
building capital, 39; Maryland legisla- 
ture expresses confidence in, 29-40- 
attacked hy political enemies, 39-40; 
letters to Governor Johnson destroyed, 
8; orders Gen. Chas. Lee courtmartialed, 
53; declines third term, 44; effect of 
death on federal party, 47-48; influence 
in Maryland for ratification of United 
States constitution, 47-48; death of, 48. 

Watkins, Col. Gassaway, 269. 

Watkins (Warfield), Margaret Gassaway, 
269, 286 §45. 

Watkins, Col. Thos., 165. 

Weast, Jos. 282 §63. 

Weems (Sprigg), Margaret Elzey, 92; 286 

"Wliiskey insurrection, 12. 

White, John Campbell, 199. 

White, Joseph, 199, 286 §35. 

White Plains, battle of, and Gov. J. E. 
Howard, 28; Governor Smallwood and, 
21; Governor Stone and, 37. 

Whittington (Smith), Charlotte, 262, 286 
§44. 

Whittington, William, 262. 

Whyte, William Pinkney, sketch, 198-206; 
(ancestry, 199; early career, 199; elected 
to legislature, 200; contests election of 
Harris, 200-201; declined bv Union 
Army as unfit, 201; appointed United 
States senator, 201; Andrew Johnson 
and, 201-202; elected governor, 202; re- 
signs to become United States senator, 
202-203; senatorial career, 203-204; de- 
feated by Senator Gorman, 204; mayor 
of Baltimore, 204-205; marriage, 205- 
206; third term in United States senate, 
206; death, 206.) Resigns as governor, 
210, 235; in United States senate, 211; 



succeeded by Governor Smith, 267; 
282 §77, 285 §38, 286 §35. 

Wilcox (Hicks), Mrs. Mary, 177, 287 §31. 

William and Mary College attended by 
Governor Plater, 33; by Governor Mer- 
cer, 52. 

Williams, Henry, 247. 

Williams, S. A., 273, 283 §87. 

Wilson, Ephraim E., 157. 

Wilson, Ephraim King, 110; guardian of 
Governor Smith, 262; elected to United 
States senate, 264; death of, 264. 

Winder, Levin, sketch, 75-80 (struggle be- 
tween federalists and republicans, 75- 
76; succeeds Bowie, 76; birth and youth, 
76; Revolution and, 76-77; planter, 77; 
in legislature, 77; speaker of house. 77; 
elected governor, 78; administration, 78- 
80, battle of North Point and Fort Mc- 
Henry, 79-80; prominence as Mason, 80; 
home life, 80; death, 80). Speaker of 
house of delegates, 73; a federalist, 62; 
defeats Gov. Robt. Bowie, 63; admin- 
istration, 81. 281 §21; 282 §41, §42, 
§43; 284 §16; 286 §14. 

Winder, William, 76; 268 §14. 

Worrell (Veazey), Sarah, 129, 287 §24. 

Wright, Robert sketch, 64-69 (charac- 
teristics, 65; birth and schooling, 66; 
joins army, 66; duel with Edward 
Lloyd, 66; marriage, 67; in legislature, 
67; United States senator, 67; elected 
governor, 67; in congress, 67-68; Thomas 
Jefferson and, 68; resigns as governor, 
68; returned to congress, 69; marriage, 
69; death, 69.) Resigns as governor, 
235; daughter marries Gov. P. F. 
Thomas, 157. 281 §34, §35; 282 §36 
284 §13; 286 §12 

Wright, Solomon, 65, 66, 287 §12. 

Yale University attended by Governor 

Ligon, 166. 
Young, James, 190. 



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